Disappearing to another world
by Starciya
Summary: When Ali gets taken, it starts an adventure of memories, and prophecies. And how is she a key to all of this, especially the key to what? please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

_No one knows how it happened or how these two worlds came to exist or how they came to be connected but it is now something people have put into myth. There are many tales of how the Sylvan's offended the gods and were banished to what is now called Cyera, or how the Sylvan's wanted to be separate from the human's so they created a world away from them to live in. Many people, me included, have spent their life-times seeking for the truth but it has not been found._

_One thing that puzzles those who believe in these myths are the gateways, the portals that connect the two worlds. Another puzzling concept is the connection between these worlds. What happens in one world will happen in the other. For example in a forest were to catch on fire and burn down in one world, the forest in the exact same place in the other would slowly wither and die. You can imagine how this has frustrated farmers for centuries. It also has forced a delicate treaty between the worlds of Cercel and Tercel. A war fought would damage both worlds greatly._

_But I am rambling now, and I didn't finish my explanation of the portals. These gateways only open on nights when the moon is full. They will open when the moon starts to rise and will close when the dawn banishes it from sight. There are two types of gateways. Those that are fixed and those that are not. The fixed portals are rare and there are only four of them that we know of. What makes them so sought after is you always know where they will appear and they will always take you to the same place._

_The other kind of portals are chancy. They move around, changing places, if you and a companion walk through one of these portals, side by side, you could end up miles away from each other. You never know where you might end up. I have heard that some mages with considerable power have been able to make one of these unreliable portals open where they wanted it too, but I have never been able to confirm that._

_The Sylvan race and the human race are very similar to each other…_

Ali threw the book down on the table and threw a disgusted look over at the man sitting across the table from her. He looked up at her, his brown eyes smirking, "Are you done with that chapter already, Princess?" he asked.

"I have already read this book, Encyclopedia! Mister what's-his-face author just rambles on and on about things I already know." She said expressively.

"I hope you call me by my real name and not Encyclopedia when King Jeneth gets here. This meeting only comes once a year and is very important to keeping peace between us and Cercel."

"Yeah, Yeah. I know how important it is, all you have had me reading for the last three weeks are boring history books about the relations between our two worlds, _Espen._" Ali said while rolling her eyes.

For a long moment he glared at her before shaking his head in an attempt to get his hair out of his eyes.

Smiling Ali sweetly stated, "You know, you really should get a haircut. Doesn't your hair bother you when it is in your face like that?"

Spen grimaced, "You know why I like it long, Princess."

She grinned evilly, "You think that your face and its delicate features would give away more than your pointed ears that you have Sylvan blood in you."

He just ignored her. She laughed and said, "Sorry, I know that it is a touchy subject with you but there are a whole lot of people that have Sylvan features in Tercel. You don't have to hide it."

He raised an eyebrow at her and just shook his head before going back and reading his book.

Ali ignored her book and went over to the window. She looked out and saw the guards practicing with their swords in the courtyard in the fading sunlight. Her fingers itched, she was missing practice for this meeting. She didn't understand why she had been requested to be there, she was a middle child. Her older brother was the heir and he wasn't even going to this meeting.

She turned around and looked at her tutor, immersed in his book. She walked up to him and lightly slapped him on the back of his head, "Come on, Encyclopedia. A nice boring meeting awaits us." then kept walking before he had the chance to react.

Ali stood besides her Father, King Par with the Sylvan ambassador Trus on the other side. Encyclopedia was standing over with the other mages. She always laughed when she saw him with them because he was in his early twenties and all of them were at least forty or over. He was a prodigy kid, he could remember everything he ever read, saw, or heard. She couldn't remember exactly when her father had decreed him to become her tutor but she found it so annoying because he knew everything. The Castle Portal gave a flash and she turned her attention over to it to see King Jeneth and three of his councilors walk through it.

Her father walked forward and began the cordial welcoming speech. Ali phased out for a moment until she heard, "And here is my middle daughter, Princess Alihandra." She made the proper smile and curtsy, and was relieved when her father moved on.

After the introductions were done, her father started to usher them into the large council room to start the meeting. Ali hung back waiting to be at the end of the group before she went in. She saw a flash from a portal opening behind her. Confused because it wasn't the Castle portal she started to turn around when she felt a hand grab her arm and start to pull her backwards.

"Get off of me!" She yelled.

She heard Spen call, "Princess, Are you alright?"

"Spen! Someone is…" was all she got out before a hand clapped over her mouth and she was pulled into the bright light of the portal.

* * *

Author's note- you need to review and tell me if this chapter makes sense. When I read it does but that is also because I know what it is talking about. So here is the beginning of my new story, let's see how everything turns out- shall we?


	2. Chapter 2

She didn't know where she was going, she didn't know where she came from, she just knew that she was walking, and must keep on walking. She must get away from… from something. She couldn't remember anything else but the fact that she needed to get away. So she kept walking and walking until the sun started to set and darkness took over the forest. It was only when she tripped out of exhaustion that she finally quit walking.

Curled up under a bush at the base of the many trees, she begins to wonder again, not for the first time that day. How did she get into this forest? Why she felt the need to keep going? And the burning question, Who was she? That was the question that disturbed her the most. You think she should at least know her name, or where she came from. She fell asleep asking these questions.

When morning came she felt the need again to keep walking, to keep going. She didn't know what else to do so she walked. The sun was high in the sky before she came lurching into a meadow. By this time she was very hungry, she hadn't eaten since… well she couldn't remember. In the meadow was a small cottage and a little woman working in the garden. The woman looked up in surprise when she heard a noise. The woman came towards her and asked, "Who are you? You don't look so good." The girl couldn't stay standing anymore collapsed to the ground. The woman came over and looked into her eyes and remarked, "We need to get you into the house and some food into you." She then helped her up and inside.

The girl just wolfed down the food in front of her, not saying a word, not quite sure of what to say.

The woman watched her and when she finished eating said, "My name is Miriam, What is yours?"

The girl looked up at her and said hesitantly, "I don't know. I can't remember anything."

Miriam narrowed her eyes and said, "You have lost your memory? What is the first thing you remember?"

"I remember walking, a whole bunch of walking. Than stopping to sleep when it got dark. More walking, and then I was here." She answered.

"That is all you really remember?" Miriam questioned.

She just nodded. She didn't know what else to say.

Miriam thought for a moment and then said, "I am a healer, would you drink some potions that I make for you? One of them might restore your memory."

She nodded again, and wondered what would happen to her if the potions didn't work, will I ever know who I am?

Miriam got to work at once, the girl looked around the room and saw a chair by the fireplace, she shuffled over there and sat down, falling asleep almost immediately. She was woken up by Miriam, "Come on, girl. Wake up. I have something that I want you to drink."

She woke up, and saw Miriam standing in front of her holding out a cup. She took the cup and could smell the herbs in it as she brought in up to her mouth. She didn't like the taste as she swallowed it. After she drank it she grimaced and gave the cup back to Miriam. Miriam sighed, "Can you remember anything now?"

She looked up at Miriam and shook her head, "No, nothing."

"Then time is what your memory needs, you can stay with me until that happens, alright…. Although I need to call you something. _Girl_, will just get annoying after a while. How about I call you Belle? That sounds like a Tercel name."

Bell looked up at Miriam confused, "Tercel, what is that?"

"Why it is where you are from, my child. Your facial features clearly say that you are from Tercel." Miriam stopped when she saw the confused look on Belle's face. Miriam whisked away the hair from her own ears and pointed to the pointy ends. "This shows that I am Sylvan, where if you feel your ears they are round on the top, showing you that you are from Tercel."

Belle asked, "But what are Tercel and Sylvan?"

Miriam thought for a moment, "Let me tell you about the history between our two worlds, and maybe then you can understand things better."

* * *

"Belle, don't wander off to far now, You have only been in town a few times I don't want you to get lost." Belle nodded and started off to go to a farmer's stand to get vetables for tonight's dinner. People still looked at her funny, she was after all a foreigner to this place. She was trying to learn as much as she could in these last two weeks she had been living with Miriam, but still nothing of her past was coming back to her. Belle was learning some of the basics of healing, Miriam was an excellent teacher for that. Maybe if her memory didn't come back she could stay and be a healer like Miriam.

Belle was almost to the vegetable stand when out of the corner of her eye, she thought she recognized someone. She turned and looked at the busy street and didn't see anything that sparked any recognition so she continued on. Belle greeted the man behind the counter and started putting the vegetables she needed in her basket. She paid the man and started heading back towards Miriam. This time as she weaved through the street she kept her eye out for the possibility that there was someone who knew the old her. Which she didn't see. When she got back to Miriam, her disappointment must have been written all over her face because Miriam asked, "What's wrong?"

"I thought that I recognized someone. But the feeling was gone in a flash." Belle explained.

"Maybe," Miriam hummed, "maybe. Shall we be on our way?"

They started walking back to the cottage when Miriam suddenly stopped. "We're being followed." She whispered. She then turned around and called, "Come out, come out, where ever you are."

Two men stepped out of the forest. Belle could see one was like her and had Tercel features, the other one on the other hand had Sylvan. She looked curiously at them and thought that maybe they might look familiar, but she wasn't quite sure. The one with Tercel features was weathered, he had a hard face and held himself well. His hard brown eyes kept flicking back and forth from her to Miriam. The other one was younger, about her age, his brown hair was too long to see his ears, but he was staring right at her. Belle shrank back a little bit and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He answered, "Don't you know me? What happened to you, Princess? Why don't you recognize us?"

* * *

Author's note- well the story continues on, and Ali has lost her memory. We still don't know who took her, where she was…. Please review. I love reading them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

He answered, "Don't you know me? What happened to you, Princess? Why don't you recognize us?"

She looked at him and slowly shook her head, "I'm not sure, should I know you?"

He cocked his head, "My name is Espen, you call me Spen. This is Ban. We have been searching for you for three weeks. You have been very difficult to find."

Belle looked back and forth from Spen and Ban, trying to see if she could remember them. "Why do you call me Princess?" She asked.

"You are Princess Alihandra. The middle princess of Tercel." Spen said shortly.

"Princess Alihandra…?" She murmured, her head spinning from the information she had just heard. Her thoughts were interrupted by Miriam saying, "Let's continue to my house and we can pursue this conversation there. It would be best not to push her."

Spen still looking at Ali slowly nodded his head and followed Miriam. Ali found herself walking besides Ban. She nervously looked at him and asked, "Do you really know me?"

Ban looked over at her and smiled, "Yes, I really know you. I have known you since you were born. I taught you how to ride a horse."

Ali smiled at that, "Miriam doesn't have horses so I haven't been too close to one, but you say I can ride one?"

Raising his eyebrows he chuckled, "You ride them like the wind."

Ali tried to remember riding a horse but she couldn't seem to make any images appear, she finally gave up when they reached Miriam's and walked inside. Miriam ushered everyone to sit down and told Spen to start his tale.

Spen told about how Ali had disappeared on the night of the last full moon, being pulled into a portal. The King, gave Spen an order to go through with Ban and find her. They quickly prepared and went through the portal before it disappeared and found themselves in the middle of nowhere. They have been searching for the last past three weeks and finally a few days ago caught word of a human in this town and went to go check it out.

Ali listened to his story and when he talked about the King, she remembered a kind face and warm brown eyes. She only kept the image for a few seconds before it grew fuzzy and disappeared. She couldn't believe that she was a princess. That life must have been so different than the one she had been living here. It was no wonder that nothing here sparked any memories.

"She has only been here for two weeks though, I can't tell you how she lost her memory, she came here like that." Ali heard Miriam tell them. Ali started to pay more attention to the conversation. They were talking about the missing week, and what could have happened to her in that week. At one point they all turned to her and she surprised exclaimed, "I have no clue, why would I know? I have the missing memory."

Spen sighed and looked up in exasperation, "It is in your head somewhere, we just have to get you to remember. But in the mean time we should probably head to the capital city, Terac. So we go through the Royal Portal and get you home."

Miriam gasped, "You are going to Terac and will speak with the King?"

Spen confused asked, "Yes, why?"

"Have you ever met the King?"

"I have spoken with the King on several occasions, so yes I have met him." Spen clarified.

"That might make things interesting." Miriam said.

"I don't quite understand what you are trying to say, but that portal is the most stable one and it will lead us directly back home. To me it is the only option." Spen answered.

Miriam shrugges and replied, "I was only commenting that it could be interesting. When are you planning on leaving?"

Spen thought about it for a moment and then looked over at Ban, "As soon as possible, what do you think?"

When Ban agreed to his comment. Miriam stood up and said, "Let me have tomorrow to make sure Belle…I mean Ali is prepared for the journey and you can leave the following day."

Miriam started to walk away when Ali who had been following the conversation finally said shocked, "Is anyone going to ask me what I want to do? Or you all going to assume that I will follow what you say blindly? I may have no memory but are you sure that I want to go on any kind of journey?"

Spen looked at her and let out an angry breath, "Now, you decide to act like yourself. We need to get you home and in order to do that we have to travel to the portal."

"I am not acting about not remembering who I am," Ali defended herself, "I just don't like how you didn't even include me in that conversation. For example, you asked Ban when he wanted to leave but did you ask me? No, you just assume I would want the same thing you do. I can't believe you." Ali exclaimed before storming out of the house.

Miriam commented to the angry Spen, "That is the first time I have seen her angry. Strong emotions could help her remember faster."

Spen just glared at her before saying to Ban, "Could you return to town and bring our things here, and we will prepare for the journey here."

Spen stood for a moment watching the door that Ban disappeared through before turning to Miriam, who was watching him.

"You're not going to go after her?" She asked.

"It only makes her madder," Spen answered matter-factly. "If she had her memory she would tell you that I seem to have a talent for that."

Miriam laughed.

* * *

Later that night, Ali had finally cooled down and was now sitting on a chair folding the laundry done earlier that day watching Miriam and Spen over by the kitchen table whispering about something. There was something bothering her about this, it was like it reminded her of something. Miriam told her a few days ago not to push memories but let them come naturally. So Ali was trying hard not to think about it and see if it would come. Then she was no longer in Miriam's house.

_She was in a room full of shelves and shelves of books with tables in and around the shelves. She looked around and noticed that there was a young lady sitting next to her. She had jet-black hair braided carefully about her head. She was wearing a dark navy dress that seemed to match her eyes exactly. This girl turned to her and pointed over her shoulder saying, "There is Spen talking with Carl. What were you saying that you wanted to try today?"_

"_I don't know, all I know is all of this studying is making me bored. I need something to wake me up. What do you suggest?" Ali said._

"_I suggest bothering one of the other students, you always try and see how fast you can get Spen to get annoyed with you and use magic to get rid of you."_

_Ali heard herself laugh, "But none of the other students react that way, they are always so sickenly polite, they are all afraid that because I'm a princess if they do anything they will get in trouble. He always reacts, so it is always fun."_

"_But I am getting bored of seeing the same thing over and over again. You should try and see how long you can stay until he kicks you out."_

"_What are you wagering?"_

"_If he kicks you out before ten minutes, I can wear your new emerald necklace to the Queen's tea tomorrow. And if you last longer than ten minutes, I will tell everyone you're not feeling well and couldn't go to the Queen's tea."_

_Ali thought about it for a moment, before saying, "You have a bet."_

"Ali! What is the matter with you girl? I have been calling your name for several minutes now." Miriam's voice knocked her out of her memory.

She looked up surprised at Miriam who was now standing right in front of her, "I'm sorry, I was remembering a conversation that I had with a girl. I don't know her name though."

That peaked Spen's attention, "What was the memory? Describe her to me and maybe I can tell you who it was."

Ali thought for a moment, "We were in a room with lots of books and there were lots of people studying. I was bored and the lady was challenging me to a bet."

Spen smiled and shook his head, "Dark hair, blue eyes?" He waited for Ali's nod before continuing, "You were talking to Lady Lyssa. She is your top conspirator when it comes to pranks and bets." Seeing her look of confusion, "Yes, you are the biggest prankster in the whole castle; I bet even the whole country. You loved making bets too, the more challenging it was the more you liked it."

Ali slowly answered, "Really? I don't remember being like that ."

Rolling his eyes Spen answered, "I hope you remember soon, or this is going to get annoying."

Author's note- So I wrote a new summary, hopefully it helps people read and review this new story. I say this because I really want someone to review, even if it is a comment on what I could do better. Thanks for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ali woke up the next morning and found Miriam in the kitchen packing. "Why are you packing?" Ali asked her.

"I was thinking about you traveling with those two men and decided that another woman needed to come along. Also I know the way to the capital and can be your guide." Miriam said resolutely.

Ali smiled at her and asked, "Have you asked Spen or Ban yet? Spen especially I don't think he'll like you coming along.""

"He can just accept it, because I am coming." Miriam stated.

This caused Ali to giggle, she was still giggling when the man in question walked in. He looked back and forth from Miriam's piles to be packed to Ali who was muffling her mouth with her hand.

"What is happening?" he asked confused.

"I will be coming with you." Miriam stated again.

"Why?" Spen asked bluntly.

"Because I am very familiar with the way to the capital."

"I have maps." Spen stated back.

"Maps can't tell you where the best inns are. Where food and water are, if one road is safer than another. Maps can't but I can." Miriam finished with a smile.

Spen thought about it for a moment before saying. "Your logic is sound." He looked over at Ali and said, "Since you need to be asked about everything. Do you mind f Miriam comes along with us?"

Ali was surprised, he sounded slightly annoyed as he asked her that but she decided to ignore that and cheerfully replied, "Of course I don't.!"

"You're coming with us, then." He said with a nod before he left again.

Ali looked after with wonder, and said almost to herself. "If I had all my memories back, I wonder if I would understand him better."

Miriam smiled and commented back, "Probably not."

"huh." Ali breathed still watching the doorway where Spen had left through.

As the preparation continued throughout the day, Ali found herself watching the elusive Spen as they were packing and getting ready for the trip. The more she watched him, the more Ali knew that she knew him. It was almost as if she was looking through a waterfall, seeing yet not being able to make the image on the other side.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Spen demanded crossly, dropping a freshly packed bag by the door. "It is very annoying."

"Every time I look at you, I feel like I have a memory tiggling in my head, trying to get out." Ali replied in a bemused way.

"Tiggling is not a word." Was his answer.

"How do you know that?" Ali countered.

"Because I have read the dictionary." Spen said shortly.

"How could you possibly remember everything in the dictionary?" Ali asked shocked.

"This is one of the reasons why you need your memory back, so I don't have to answer stupid questions that you already know the answer too." Spen shot at her.

"I am so sorry that you might have to repeat a simple answer to someone who has lost their memory. But if you don't help me remember how in the world am I supposed to remember?" Ali said with vehemence.

"Fine." He said, "I… remember… everything…. that I have ever read and heard. The Mages call it an eidetic memory. How is that?" He stopped when he saw her curious face, "Why are you making that face?"

Ali self-consciously laughed, commenting, "I was wondering if that was the reason your head was so big, because it needs all that space to hold all that information."

Spen sat down on a chair and looked helplessly at her, "I give up. We have had this exact conversation."

"Really?" Ali interrupted him, "When?"

"Two years and thirty-eight days ago." Spen answered.

"What was the conclusion of this conversation? That you do indeed have a big head?" She asked.

"No, in fact it was the opposite." Spen started to explain, "Not unless you have a big head as well." He ignored her denial as he continued. "We measured and made models of both of us. Figuring out the correct proportions of all our extremities, which included our heads, to the rest of our body. The conclusion was that we have the same proportions, I just happen to be much smarter than you."

"But…" Was all Ali got out before Miriam interrupted and called her away to help her.

"That seemed like a fun conversation that you were having with Spen." Miriam said curious.

"He just likes acting smarter than me, that's all." Ali responded. "I don't like not knowing my own past."

"You will remember. Don't worry about it, just let it happen." Miriam reassured.

"So everyone keeps telling me." Ali muttered under her breath as she followed Miriam to finish the packing.

* * *

They went were the road the next day. Ali was grateful that it seemed that she didn't have to remember anything in order to ride a horse, it just came naturally, as if it was something she had been doing her whole life. When she said that comment out loud, Spen commented drily back that she had been doing it all her life. Her reply was to stick her tongue out at him and ride over to Miriam and Ban.

That night she had a dream. It started out with her standing in a classroom of sorts. It had long tables in rows lined down the room. She looked around the room and saw that it was empty except for Spen who was sitting at one of the tables with several piles of books around him. She walked towards him when she heard herself ask, "What are you studying now?"

He didn't even bother looking up before answering, "I am studying about the magic rings that I have to construct in order to perform large scale enlargement spell."

"What in Sarthe's name do you want to do a large scale enlargement spell?" She asked him, "It seems a little overkill, don't you think?"

"You need to ask your father that, Princess. He is the one who has requested that the miniature castle that your mother loves so much be enlarged to normal size."

"That seems like a stupid use of the Mage's time and effort." She replied as she sat on the table next to him.

"And that is why the Mages gave the spell to me. They thought that it would be a good learning experience to do it."

"Meaning that they didn't want to do it, so they gave it to you." Ali interjected.

"Exactly." Was his reply. They remained in silence for a long moment before he asked, "Did you have something else to ask?"

"No, not really. I was wondering if you could teach me how to do a lifting spell."

"Why do you need to know a lifting spell?" Spen asked startled, looking up at her for the first time.

"I have a little project that I wanted to do." Was her simple reply.

"Project?... project meaning some prank you want to play on somebody?" He drily asked.

"How could you ask such a question to me?" Ali asked in a surprised tone.

Chuckling he answered "Because I know you."

"So I can't hide anything from you. But will you do it anyways? This prank is a good one." Ali pleaded with him.

"What is it?" He asked suspiciously.

"I just wanted to lift a horse into the study room that is in the Blue Tower." She said innocently.

"A horse? Why in the world would you want a horse there?"

Ali's face broke into a huge grin, "Because it would be funny to see Mage Jinkens jumping up and down as he tries to deal with it."

That made him laugh, "It would be funny, but you know that as soon as you do it, I will have Mage Jinkens down here yelling at me, because I taught you the spell."

"What if I promised to wait two weeks before I did it? That way you can answer that you didn't know I would do that." Ali wheedled.

Spen shook his head.

Ali woke up to birds chirping. She was confused for a moment how she was outside when she was just inside a classroom. Then she remembered that it was a dream, but it seemed so real to her so she looked across the clearing to where Spen was just getting up and loudly asked, "Did I ever try and lift a horse into the Blue Tower study room?"

Looking at her surprised, he asked, "How did you know about that?"

"I had a dream last night."

A look of confusion crossed his face, "But I…." He looked back at her and asked, "Do you remember anything else?"

"No, just the dream. I was asking you to teach me a lifting spell so I could lift a horse into a study room to make Mage Jinkens mad. Did that actually happen?" She asked him again.

"Yes, that did. I was studying an enlargement spell, and you wanted to know how to lift a horse up." Spen answered.

Ali looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "Did I actually do it? I only remember asking you."

Smiling Spen nodded as he stood up. "Yes, you convinced me to teach you the lifting spell, which then in turn got me in trouble for a few days."

"Sorry," Ali apologized sheepishly. "I didn't mean for you to get in trouble."

"That is the problem you never do, but it always seemed to."

As they got ready for the day, Miriam went up to Spen and asked, "Did you have anything to do with that dream?"

Spen made a face and answered, "I did. There is a way of giving someone your memories. As she was falling asleep last night I gave her the beginning of a memory, hoping that her mind would recognize it and play it out as a dream." He paused for a moment before going on, "But I didn't plant that dream, it was another about how she met Lady Lyssa. I wonder what caused the jump?"

"Are you going to try again tonight?" Miriam asked.

"Even if it didn't work exactly the way I expected, it still had a good result. So yes I will try again tonight."

"Good." Miriam answered.

* * *

Author's note- So this story has been sitting here uncompleted for I believe over a year. And I keep thinking that I need to finish it. So here hopefully I will get it finished before I have another bout of writers block. Please review! Those always help with the updates!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Traveling through the next week was set to moderate pace. Ali was enjoying herself, she kept having those memory dreams every night, which opened up another little piece of her past. And riding with her companions also had its advantages. Who she rode next to, depended on her current mood. When she was looking for comfortable silence with a few comments on the scenery, Ban was the one to ride with. He was a man of few words. It was like he thought and handpicked what he would say before he said it. Ali thought that he was a soldier of some type, gauging from the sword that he wore but she hadn't drummed up enough courage to ask him yet.

Riding next to Miriam was like talking to your mother. She was always concerned about how you were doing, were you hungry? Did you see that over there? And on and on.

But riding with Spen often resulted in him being a touch mad, and sometimes she was the one who was angry. They even almost had a shouting fight with each other once if Miriam hadn't separated the two of them.

Most of what caused Spen to become angry was the huge gaping holes in her memory. He would tell her about an incident and she would have no clue what he was talking about. Ali was always glad about the small memories that she was gaining back, even if it felt like it was slow, they were coming. It was definitely too slow for Spen, though. Ali thought it was because he never had to try and remember something, was why he had no patience for it.

On the sixth night of traveling, Ali had this dream.

_She was her father's study, he had called her there for some reason. She looked to where her father was standing, with his back to her, looking out the window. "Father, I am here. What did you need to tell me?" Her voice asked, it sounded different than it usually did._

_With a sigh King Par slowly turned around and asked, "What am I going to do with you?"_

"_Does something need to be done?" She asked nervously._

_His shoulders tensed and he looked at her thoughtfully. "Yes, my daughter. Something needs to be done." He paused as he came and sat in a chair in front of her. He took her hands and continued, "You are thirteen. I can't have you running away and hiding from your tutor, just because you don't want to do it."_

_Ali looked into his earnest eyes and said back, "But I don't want to go to the upper level classes. I want to be practicing my sword work. You didn't make Abigail take the upper level classes." Ali saw her father's eyes narrow and she quickly lowered her eyes and looked at her shoes._

"_Abigail took the upper level classes until she turned sixteen. You still have three more years until I will even consider letting you drop them. Also your sister had her music to practice. She wanted to become a forte-piano virtuoso. So after she turned sixteen she went to the music school and is taking classes there." King Par explained patiently._

"_But… I don't want to…" Ali started before she was interrupted by her father. "No, you will continue to take the upper level classes. In three years you can bring the subject again and we will talk about it then, but not before." He said in his no argument voice. He waited for her quick nod before continuing "Now since you have succeeded in driving off ten tutors in the last four weeks I had a hard time finding another one for you. And I will tell you this, if you drive this one off there will be severe consequences. Do you understand me, Alihandra?" She nodded again, still looking at her toes._

"_Then you can meet your new tutor." Her father stood up and rang a bell. She heard the door open and someone come in. She looked up to see Espen come in. She had never talked to him but everyone knew who he was. He was only two years older than her but had already completed the upper level classes and was an apprentice mage. He was going to be taking his level two's shortly, if the rumors were right. "Father, __**he**__ will be tutoring me?" Ali asked dismayed. "He is not that much older than I am!"_

"_Yes, Espen will be your tutor from now on. He was the only one who would even consider it. He will also be reporting to me weekly to make sure you are doing well." _

_Ali caught the warning in her father's voice and nodded._

"_Since we all of an understanding, I will let you two go and get acquainted with each other." King Par then sat down at his desk and started reading through the reports._

_Ali sulked to the door, where Espen was waiting for her with the door open. She snuck a glance at him as she walked past him and saw that he wasn't very happy about this either. They both trudged silently to the study room that had been assigned to her by her father. When she entered the room, she threw herself onto a chair, crossed her arms across her chest and flatly said, "I am not going to do anything."_

"_But the King said that you needed to do work with me." Espen said surprised at her._

"_Just because he says to do it doesn't mean that I will do it." Ali said defiantly. "And you can report that to him!"_

_Espen studied her for a long moment and then shrugged his shoulders, "If you are in this room during the two hours that you are supposed to be here, is good enough for me. If you aren't going to do anything then I will at least have time to finish some of my class work." __e__ He then pulled out a thick magic book and started reading it. _

_Watching him, Ali thought for sure he would put down the big book after reading a couple of pages, that is what she always did, but he kept reading and reading, page after page. First she was perplexed, then amazed and then bored. She was stuck in this room for two hours with a boring reader. She started to pace, when Espen made no move to stop her, she started to inch towards the door, still no movement from him, closer and closer she came to her escape when she ran into a invisible wall. Curious she pushed against the air as she tried to figure out what was stopping her. _

"_I wouldn't do that if I were you." Espen's voice came from behind her as she pulled back a foot to kick the invisible wall. "You might break a toe."_

_Ali whirled around and glared at the calm fifteen year-old. "Let me out." She demanded._

"_No." Was the simple reply._

"_Why? All you are doing is reading and I am bored stiff in here." Ali asked growing crosser by the moment._

"_You are supposed to be in tutoring for two hours every day. That is what I was told by the King. If choose to do nothing for those two hours as you stated when you came in here, then I can hardly be blamed for your perceived boredom." He answered with an unruffled calm._

"_Let me out." Ali demanded again, watching for any reaction she could use._

_He looked at her calmly and answered again, "No. Not until your two hours are up."_

"_None of the other tutors sank to using magic to keep me inside here. I could report you to my father." Ali threatened._

_He smiled slightly and raised his eyebrows, "Really, Princess. Then you would have to explain why I deemed it necessary to use magic to keep you in the room. I thought that he made it clear that you were going to do this."_

_Yelling in frustration, Ali sat down next to the wall, arms crossed and pouted. She was going to have to think of something to get away from this annoying boy. She couldn't get out without him dropping the spell. And she couldn't make him drop the spell without getting in trouble with her father. She would just have to make sure that she didn't come into this room again. If she wasn't in there, he couldn't lock her in. Ali spent her remaining time, coming up with a plan._

_Over the next five days, Ali's plan failed five times. The first day she tried hiding in the library, but Espen found her and used a lifting spell to lift her to the study room. The second day she tried hiding out in the armory. He used the same lifting spell as he did the day before. The third day she thought she had him, she had spent all night reading how to counter-act the lifting spell and had cast the spell on her. Ali hid in the guest rooms. But he found her anyway, and when the lifting spell didn't work, used a pushing spell to push her to the study room. Another restless night was spent on counteracting a pushing spell which didn't work because Espen then used a pulling spell to get her. On the last day Ali abandoned the counter spells and hoped on a horse and rode for a ride, hoping that he wouldn't find her._

_That hope turned out to be in vain, because he found her out in the meadow where she had stopped to rest her horse._

Ali woke up slowly wondering why Spen had been so determined about her tutoring lessons. After they were on their way, she asked him.

"Why were you so determined when you first started tutoring me?" She asked.

He looked at her sharply and commented, "I guess that your dream last night was about when I first started to tutor you."

"Yes, why were you so determined? I tried for a week to escape you but you always found me." Ali asked again.

"I needed the money." He stated. "The mage level two tests are expensive. They require a lot of supplies. I didn't want to keep writing my parents asking them for more money. Tutoring you would give me the money to pay for it myself."

"Really? For a little money you tracked me down every day for a week and dragged me back kicking and screaming?" Ali exclaimed, full of wonder about the man that was riding next to her.

"It wasn't just a little money. King Par gave a good wage, in order to entice somebody to take the job." He replied with a shrug. He then looked at her curious and asked, "How much do you remember?"

"um…. Just the first week." Ali replied and then asked, "How much longer did you have to come after me before I gave up?"

"About a month. By then you were so tired and behind in your class work that you had to accept my help or the teachers would have reported it to The King, which you did not want to happen." He answered with a chuckle.

"I was a stubborn child wasn't I?" Ali asked with a smile.

"You still are." Spen retorted back.

"What was that?" Ali asked looking at him sharply.

"I was just muttering to myself." Spen shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"right…." Ali said slowly. They rode in silence for a long moment before Ali asked, "I am still confused how our two worlds are connected. Why are they connected?"

Spen followed her gaze to the trees that they were passing. "I don't know why they are connected. I know that they are and they have been since anyone can remember."

"What about how you can hurt one side by damaging the other. Like if I cut down that tree," she pointed to a tree off to her left, "right there, a tree on Tercel would die, right?"

"No, not exactly. It needs to be a larger scale than that. One tree being cut down won't necessarily affect Tercel. Now this whole forest being cut down will though. It has to do with the natural energy in the plants and through the earth. The two worlds are in a near balance with each other. If one world loses too much energy to a large area being damaged the balance would be thrown off. Then the other world has to lose the same amount of energy in order to regain the balance." Spen said automatically as if he was reading out of a book, which he probably was.

"That did not make any sense at all, Spen." Ali complained.

Spen smiled and stopped his horse. He dismounted and bent down looking for something on the ground. Ali watched him puzzled about what he was doing. He soon straightened up and walked over to where she had stopped her horse. Holding out both hands, Spen continued. "You will see that I have ten pebbles in both hands. They are almost the same weight. If I were to able to put them on a scale I would, but you will just have to imagine it for the moment. My right hand is Tercel, and my left hand is Cercel." He motioned to each hand as he labeled them. "If you were to take one pebble from my left hand or Cercel. And say that was a tree that was cut down, how much would that action affect the balance in-between the two?" he asked.

Ali looked at the pebble in her hand back to his two hands and commented, "Not very much."

Spen asked another question, "How easily would it be to regain the balance?"

"It would be very easy because it was so small."

"Exactly. Now what if all the pebbles where taken from my left hand or Cercel?" Spen pressed on.

"The balance is thrown off very badly." Ali replied and answered his next question without him asking it, "It would take a lot for the balance to be brought back to order. I guess that makes sense, but what about the portals then?"

"What about them?" Spen asked back.

"Where do they come from? Why do we have to travel so far to find one?"

"No one knows where they come from or how they work, it is a mystery that has never been solved. Although there are a lot of myths about where they come from, I won't confuse you with them now. As to the question about why we are traveling, it is because there are only a few portals that open in the exact place on both sides every time. The nearest one is the portal in the Castle." Spen explained slowly.

Ali nodded satisfied with his answer as he got back on his horse and they hurried to catch up with Miriam and Ban.

Later that day, Spen and Miriam were riding behind Ali and Ban, when Miriam saw Spen making a disgusted face. She laughed at him and asked him what was the matter.

"I am debating with myself on whether to remind Ali of some things." Spen said carefully.

Laughing Miriam asked, "And what things are those?"

"Like the nickname she gave me." Spen answered drily.

"Really!" Miriam said very interested, "What nickname could you dislike so much?"

Spen just gave her annoyed look and didn't say anything.

"You must really not like it, if you are that annoyed." Miriam said laughing harder. "You must tell me what it is."

"If you are going to be reacting like that, then I will most certainly not tell you what it is." Spen said primly.

"I will warn you I have a brother… I know how to wheedle things out of people." Miriam said with a wicked grin.

After assessing her fierce look, Spen gave in and said, "Encyclopedia. She called me that because I remember everything." He paused for a moment before remarking softly to his hands, "In fact I sort-of miss it. This morning talking to her, I kept expecting Ali to call me it, but it never happened."

Miriam studied the young man for several long moments before asking bluntly, "How long have you been in love with her?"

"WHAT!" Spen shrieked almost falling off of his horse. He quickly regained his balance and looked quickly to the front where both Ali and Ban were looking back at them confused.

"Don't worry, I just startled the boy." Miriam called reassuringly. "Just keep on going."

After riding a little while in silence, Miriam innocently commented, "So I noticed that you haven't answered my question yet. So how long?"

Spen glared at her through narrowed eyes and responded, "I am not going to answer it."

"Come on, you know you want to. Think of the relief it would be for someone besides you to know your secret." Miriam justified.

"I am not exactly sure what you expect me to say." Spen said with a blank look on his face.

"I am trying to get you to be honest with me and yourself, How long have you been in love with Ali?" Miriam pressed her eyes twinkling mischievously at him.

"I will not answer that question." He answered shortly, his tension shown in how tightly he held the reigns in his hands.

"If you keep that up, then I will have to be devious." Miriam threatened. "For example, asking the question when Ali is close enough to hear it. How do you think she would react to that?"

Spen sat fuming on his horse long enough that Miriam was starting to think that she would have to carry through with her threat, when he answered, "Around three years."

"Really?" Miriam was surprised, she hadn't thought that it would be that long of time. "What made you realize it?"

Spen looked at her with an expression that she couldn't decipher and shortly said, "I think that we have answered enough questions for today." And he clicked his horse to go ahead to catch up with their companions.

* * *

Author's note- alrighty- a nice long chapter! A Big THANK YOU! Goes out to Scarlett Blackfoot for the review, you're awesome! And hopefully that answers some of your questions. About Ali's memory we will find out how she lost it, eventually… it might take a few chapters though.

I think there is some nice stuff in this chapter, but what did you think? Please review and tell me.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The night before the first full moon since Ali had been taken, they reached the small town of Ponc. Everyone was glad for the warm bath water and the soft beds. What they hadn't thought about was how fast the gossip had spread that two humans were traveling through.

"I never thought that Ponc was small enough that the Tercel merchants wouldn't go through it. In the Royal City, Terac, it is common to see humans." Miriam commented as she tried to enjoy dinner through all the stares and whispers that they were receiving.

"It is the same way on Tercel." Spen said matter-factly. "When I am at the castle, people don't give me a second look, but whenever I travel home or to another mages home, I always received the same treatment as from here." He sent a humorous look at Ali and said with a slight smile, "You always made fun of me for it."

Ali's head whirled as she remembered fragments before smiling back and commented, "That is why you always kept your hair long, so people wouldn't automatically see your pointed ears."

"Very good, princess. I was hoping that would spark something." Spen's smile grew bigger.

"Hush now," Miriam said reprovingly, "I don't want anyone to know that our girl here is a princess. That would cause gossip to go flying."

Everyone looked cautiously at the room full of whispering curious people before applying themselves silently to the dinner in front of them. When they were done, they retreated to their rooms, trying to get away from the curious looks and questions that the locals were asking.

Ali was sitting on the bed combing her dark brown hair, lost in thought when Miriam said something. "Sorry I wasn't paying attention." Ali apologized, "What did you say?"

"I asked what you were thinking." Miriam repeated.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how something wasn't right about Spen. There is something different, but I can't put my finger on it." Ali confessed.

"For instance… a nickname or how he dresses?" Miriam asked innocently.

"A nickname…" Ali murmured, "That might be it. But he would have told me if I had a nickname for him, wouldn't he?" Ali looked up at Miriam confused.

"Maybe…. Maybe not, what if he didn't like the nickname you had given him?" Miriam gently said, watching as Ali processed the question. "What would you have called him that he would have hated?"

"I don't know!" Ali proclaimed, "I can barely remember anything. I know he tutored me, and that he is a great mage."

"Think, girl!" Miriam chided, "Don't come up with excuses, just think!"

Ali ran through the bits and pieces that she remembered and tried to push her memory to new conversations listening for what she could have called him. She closed her eyes and briefly saw him standing in front of her, he was saying something. She leaned in closer, trying vainly to hear his words, but she couldn't, he just kept talking silently, rambling on and on about something he had most likely read from the Encyclopedia. Her tired mind latched onto that last word. Encyclopedia, encyclopedia….. She knew that word, it was meant for him. She heard in her mind, in an irritated voice, "Come on Encyclopedia, you have told me that before." And she knew she was right. Then bits and flashes of memories rushed through her head. She heard herself saying that word Encyclopedia over and over again, each with their own memory and story. But it was happening too fast, her head was pounding with the effort. Ali felt herself collapsing with blessed darkness seeping in around her.

Voices kept talking, and all Ali wanted was for them to go away so she could go back to sleep. She must have groaned because she felt a hand slip behind her neck and a voice ask, "Ali? Are you there?"

Groaning louder she mumbled back, "Where else would I be?"

The hand behind her neck readjusted itself with her movement, and a cool hand touched her cheek, "Open your eyes then" his voice said.

Ali slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the light. The first thing she saw was that it was Spen in front of her, with a worried expression on his face. "Encyclopedia." She said with a satisfied smile, "I remember now."

"Well, I am glad you remember. But what caused your collapse? Miriam couldn't tell us." Spen said soothingly brushing his thumb across her cheek.

"Flashes of memory, bits here and bits there." Ali tried to explain, "They were all of the sudden there, and there was so many of them, I couldn't keep them straight…" She trailed off as she looked back into his worried eyes.

"All of your memories?" Spen asked, "Did they all come back?"

Ali shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

"Hmmm." Spen said looking across the room at nothing, lost in thought.

He would have mostly likely have stayed like that for a while but Miriam interrupted saying, "If we could put Ali into the bed where she could be more comfortable, I think it might be best for her to get some sleep."

"What?" Spen asked, it taking a moment for his preoccupied mind to process what she said, "Oh… Of course." With that said, he moved his hand from her cheek and scoped up her knees, then carried her the few steps to the waiting bed.

Ali quickly slipped back into sleep, where she had this dream,

_She walked into the room where Spen tutored her and wasn't surprised to see him there already, what surprised her was he was pacing very fast in front of the window. Intrigued by this peculiar behavior of his, she walked over to him and stood in front of him causing him to stop. It was only when he looked up at her that she could tell for certain that he was mad, he actually was more than mad, he was furious. Sending her a death glare, he stepped around her and continued his pacing._

"_What in Sarthe's name are you doing, Encyclopedia?" She asked him as she watched him pace, his heels denting the carpet as he walked._

_The response she received was silence. She backed up and sat down on the table that they usually studied on and observed him as he marched up and down the length of the room. She was fascinated by his actions. It usually took so much to anger him, there had been only one time before that he had been this angry at her. (and she didn't want to repeat that either.) Other than that, she wasn't quite sure that she had actually seen him furious before. Ali had been around him when he had been cross, annoyed, and in a bad mood, but this was different._

_After almost an hour, he stopped and glared at her and asked crossly, "Why are you even in here?"_

_Shrugging lightly she said simply, "I am concerned about you, what made you so mad?"_

_He just ignored the question and went back to pacing, although it wasn't as fast .After a moment she asked, "Will you tell me what made you so blazing mad?"_

_Receiving no answer, Ali made a face and then declared, "Then you leave me no choice, I say that we will play the game of ten questions, and I get to go first." Her tone left no room for arguing._

_That caused him to stop and turn to her bluntly saying, "I don't need to play a game right now, I need you to leave me alone."_

"_Not going to do that, Now for my first question. Was it me who made you mad?" Ali continued calmly._

_Spen stared at her and then shortly said, "No." before turning to the window._

"_Was it a fellow mage?" Ali asked._

"_No." _

_Ali thought for a moment before asking, "Was it a student then?"_

"_No."_

"_Was it a Noble?" Ali asked confused._

"_No."_

"_I have to admit that I am running out of options." Ali confessed, "Was it a servant in the castle?"_

"_No." Came his answer again but Ali thought she could hear a smile in his voice._

"_A servant outside of the castle?"_

"_No."_

"_Somebody in the town?" Ali expanded her net._

"_No."_

"_Somebody who is traveling through?" Ali in desperation tried._

"_No." was all he gave her._

"_Come on, Encyclopedia! What am I missing?" She exclaimed._

"_I cannot tell you, you know how the game is played. I can only answer yes or no to your questions. By the way that was your ninth question." He said all of this without facing her._

"_Ah!" Ali exclaimed, "Well then my last question will be, Was it anyone in your family?"_

"_No." _

"_No!" She almost yelled, "I can't believe this usually I get at least one good clue from that. How can I guess got you all riled up?"_

_Spen shrugged, his back still to her, and then asked, "Did you do that prank last week with the ferrets?"_

"_No." she answered back._

"_No?" There was confusion in his voice, "You remember you're not supposed to lie." Spen reminded her._

"_I am not, I didn't do it. I know though who did do it." She smugly told him._

"_Why does everyone think that you did it then?" _

"_That, my friend, is not a yes or no question." Ali reminded him, "Two questions down and only eight left."_

_Sighing he asked, "Have you seen the healer about your arm?"_

"_How did you know that?" Ali asked surprised._

"_Yes or no, please."_

"_No."_

"_Why not?" Spen asked turning his head towards her._

"_That is not a yes or no question, I don't have to answer that." Ali said, "Next question please."_

_He made a face at her and turned back towards the window, "Are you planning another prank in the next week?"_

_Pausing for a long moment, Ali finally answered, "Yes."_

"_Is it on Mage Jinkens?" He asked._

"_No." Ali proclaimed._

_Spen paused for a very long moment before he said, "Your turn."_

_Very confused Ali said, "You only asked six questions. You never forgo your turn."_

"_Today I am, your turn." Spen said evenly._

"_Oh no, you would never let this slide if I tried to do that. You have to ask ten questions." Ali insisted._

"_You are really not going to let this go, are you?" He asked back._

"_Nope, but I will count that as a question. You have three left." Ali commented._

_He paused for another long moment before asking, "Are you sparking Charan?"_

_Flabbergasted, Ali stared at his back for long enough and Spen asked, "Are you going to answer any time soon?"_

_Forcing her surprised mind to think, Ali responded, "You surprised me. You used the word __**sparking**__….. I didn't think you used the popular jargon that many of the students use."_

"_Why? I am the same age as most of them." Spen asked, finally turning around to glare at her. _

_Ali answered back, "I don't know. Maybe it is because you usually sound like an encyclopedia."_

"_I have noticed that you haven't answered the question yet." Was his response._

"_No." She answered shortly._

"_Don't lie to me." He responded with narrowed eyes._

"_I am not lying to you. You asked about Sparking, which means the holding hands, and kissing phase. Which we are definitely not doing." Ali stated back._

"_Would you like to?" Spen asked quietly._

"_Would I like to be sparking Charan?" Ali clarified waiting for his nod. "I don't know. I certainly think that he is handsome and that he is brilliant with a sword but I don't know…. I don't know if there is anything else there." She thoughtfully answered. "Why are you asking that anyways?"_

"_I was just wondering." He said with a shrug, "I have noticed that you have been spending time with him and was wondering if you knew how big of a jerk he is, especially to the mages."_

_Ali cocked her head at this, "Really? Is he that bad?"_

_Spen just nodded. The silence drew out for a moment before Ali asked, "Why were you so mad when I came in?"_

"_It was the High Mage Trevain. He came in while I was finishing up a layer to a spell and started yelling at me, like I was some first year idiot." Spen answered._

"_Wait a minute, I asked if it was a fellow mage, and you said no!" Ali exclaimed_

"_He is certainly not a fellow mage." Spen answered with the first real grin he had all day, "He is the boss."_

"_But that is a technically." Ali protested._

"_But it still is within the rules of the game." Spen grinned at her. _

"_Is this the spell you have been working on for weeks?" Ali asked giving up._

"_Yes, I have been very careful with this experiment. But all he could see was that I was doing it by myself instead of with others, and he went crazy. I have been very cautious about this, I am trying to prove that you can do the partner spells with only one person."_

_Ali knew better than say anything, but just nodded._

Ali was woken up, yet again by voices talking. She opened her eyes and looked over to where Spen and Miriam were looking very worried. She pushed herself up, causing Miriam to come bustling over to check on her.

"What were you talking about?" Ali asked when Miriam was satisfied that she was alright.

"We were discussing your memory loss, my dear. It is very confusing to us, how you are gaining your memories back." Miriam answered.

Looking over at Spen, Ali asked, "Have you come to any conclusions?"

"I think before I tell you that, I need to know how much of your memory returned before you collapsed."

"How are you going to check that?" she asked.

"I am going to ask you about certain occurrences and you are hopefully going to be able to give me details about them." Was his reply.

She nodded and tried to answer his questions the best she could.

An hour later, everyone was still frustrated. It that while maybe a fourth of her memory had returned it was less than they were hoping. She also still did not remember anything about the missing week.

Spen was the most worried about this because it meant that most likely her memory loss was caused by magic and without knowing the spells that were used, he couldn't even try to counter-act them.

* * *

Author's note- I am going to stop there because I am going cross-eyed with tiredness. Hopefully this chapter makes sense and you all liked it. Please review!

Thanks to Scarlett Blackfoot for the review, I really appreciated it!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next time Ali woke up it was mid-morning. The group had decided the night before that they would stay an extra day, to make sure that Ali was really alright. She had protested this but the majority had won. Getting ready took a while; she relished the hot water in the bath and stayed almost until her fingers got all wrinkled. Miriam and Ban came up with lunch soon after.

"Where's Spen?" Ali asked when she saw that he wasn't with them.

"He went out this morning and hasn't returned." Ban answered.

This confused Ali for a moment but she let it pass as she began to eat. When she was done Miriam told her to come with her and see an old friend. Curious, Ali followed her out of the inn. As they walked, Miriam hooked elbows with Ali and told her that doing this would keep most of the townspeople away from her. Seeing the confused look on Ali's face, Miriam laughed and said, "Most of them will see that I am your escort, and leave you alone." After a few moments of quiet, Miriam commented, "I am taking you to see a fellow healer, we have a little community of healers and if you are ever in trouble and you see this sign. They will help you." Miriam pointed at the healer's sign to a little staff with a star on top in the corner. "Listen carefully what I say when I get in there, because we have a bit of a code that will help you out."

"Why would I need their help, if I am traveling with you?" Ali asked her eyebrows furrowed.

Miriam's face screwed up as she thought for a moment, before she said, "Just in case. You never know what can happen." She then ushered Ali into the shop before she could ask any more questions.

"Good morning to you." Miriam said as she walked to the counter. "Do you have wolfs bane, cornflowers, and redfish?" she asked the silver-haired man behind the counter.

The man smiled and replied, "I do have those ingredients and they are in my backroom, if you would like to follow me?"

They followed the man to the backroom where he smiled and hugged Miriam. "It has been a while, Miriam. It is nice to see you." He said.

Miriam laughed, "I know, it has been a while since I traveled this way. I would like to introduce you to my friend here, Ali. We are traveling to the capital."

He looked over at her with an assessing look. "I see." He paused for a moment, before apologizing, "I am sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I am Drey."

Confused Ali looked back and forth between the two and wondered what she had missed. Miriam continued on, "I was just showing Ali how to talk to our community without anyone knowing about it."

Nodding Drey replied, "I understand, many things can happen on a long journey like this one." He handed Miriam a large packet of materials and bid them a good day as he said he needed to get back to his shop. Hooking elbows again Miriam led Ali out of the shop and headed back towards the inn.

"Why do I feel like I missed something in there?" Ali asked Miriam as they were walking.

Feigning an innocent look Miriam answered, "No, I don't believe that you did. Drey is a very straight-forward man." She looked around and saw Spen walking in the marketplace and said quickly, "Oh, look there is Spen. Let's walk towards him."

"But…." Ali tried to protest but she didn't finish her sentence before Miriam distracted her laughing, "Look at how the local girls are flocked around Spen."

Looking over to where Spen was Ali had to laugh, he was surrounded by four girls all laughing and talking trying to get his attention. They had him backed into a corner where he could not escape without going through them. His eyes moved around trying to figure out how to get out of there politely.

Miriam commented lightly, "It isn't hard to see why he has all those girls around him, he is handsome. I wonder if he is enjoying all the attention."

Without even thinking about it Ali answered, "No, he has his blank face on. He definitely doesn't want to be there."

"How do you know that?" Miriam asked watching her face.

"That is the face he gets when he is trying to be polite but doesn't want to be involved." Ali answered again.

"Then let's go rescue him." Miriam said as they came closer to where Spen had been besieged. "Excuse me, Ladies." Miriam said to the girls, "I came to get our companion, we need his help."

Spen nodded politely at the girls and navigated carefully out from between them. When they were out of listening distance Spen thanked them for helping him get away.

"What were you doing in the marketplace?" Ali asked.

"Ban asked me to replenish some of our supplies. He didn't like all of the locals staring at him so he stayed at the hotel." Spen answered.

Miriam nodded and said, "I have to take care of a few things at the inn, Ali would you mind helping Spen out, while I do that?" Then barely waiting for an answer, Miriam walked off toward the inn leaving them by themselves.

Looking up at Spen, Ali shrugged her shoulders and asked where they were going first. Spen nodded to the left and said, "That way." as he started to walk in that direction. Before she could think Ali grabbed his elbow and told him to slow down. In response to Spen's questioning look when she kept her hand in the crook of his elbow, she just remarked that she didn't want to lose him in the crowd.

Looking at her for a long moment with a thoughtful look on his face, he remarked, "Did you know that this is the first time I have officially escorted you anywhere."

"Really?" Ali asked. "Why haven't you ever escorted me before?"

With an amused smile, he commented, "You always have had a long line of willing men, you never had to resort to me."

Ali made a face as they walked up to a stall where Spen quickly made a purchase to be delivered to the inn. They moved on and she continued the conversation, "Was I really that popular?"

"In reality I think it was more about who your father was, rather than how popular you were." Spen said drily.

"hmm," Ali hummed as she looked around the marketplace and saw again the curious eyes staring at her. She moved in closer to Spen and gripped his arm tighter.

"What is the matter?" He asked her concerned.

Shrugging she commented, "I don't like the staring. Ban had the right idea staying out of sight."

"Without saying 'told you so', I don't know if you remember but when I first started tutoring you, we traveled with your father to a country town and I told you that I didn't like all the stares that I was getting and you just laughed at me." Spen said smirking.

"Bah," Ali scuffed, "It was good for you."

Shaking his head, "You would say that."

They walked in a comfortable silence for while as they stopped at a few more stalls and moved out of the market into the town.

"Who exactly is Charan?" Ali randomly asked.

"Where did that come from?" Spen asked confused.

"The dream I had last night was when you were really mad at High Mage Trevain and we started playing ten questions and you asked if I was sparking him. But I really can't remember him. Who is he?" Ali explained.

"He is a jerk." Was the short answer.

"You have said that before, but what I can't remember is why you say that." Ali complained.

"Well I guess it depended on who you were. To you, Charan was always charming and witty, but to those of us without your standing, especially me, he was rude and mean." Spen stated annoyed.

"Do you have a specific example?" Ali asked.

"I have plenty." He stated, pausing before continuing. "Do you remember about the mage battle challenge you two did?"

Ali thought for a long moment before shaking her head, "No, I don't think I do."

"Well, Charan is a good swordfighter, and you always enjoyed sparring with him. Then one day you two were arguing about who was better and you made a challenge out of it. One of the challenges was to see how long you could last against a mage."

"How would we do that?" Ali interrupted. "It seems a little dangerous."

"It is. But we have sparred like this a lot. You have a spelled sword and shield that is able to deflect a mage's spell. If you calculate the angle right, then the spell will be bounced back at the mage. It can be dangerous but we have spells and rules to help minimize the risk." Spen explained. "Since I spar with you all the time, it was decided for this challenge that you would be up against Mage Jinkens and I would be against Charan. You both started at the same time and the winner would be whoever lasted the longest. After about five minutes, I could see that Charan was getting angry, and then after another few minutes he was getting even madder. I personally think that he didn't like how he was doing, this was the first time that we had ever sparred and I believe that he always thought that he could beat me. When that wasn't happening he broke the distance protocol and came towards me."

"And he cut your shoulder." Ali interrupted again. "I remember being distracted from my fight by gasps from the crowd; I looked over just in time to see him raising his sword for another cut. Before I knew it I was standing by your side with my sword at his throat." She looked up at him with a startled expression on her face, "I remember now. He was sent home after that."

Spen smiled down at her and nodded, "Yes, that is what happened. I told you he was a jerk."

"Yes, you were right. Like you usually are." Ali answered laughing.

"You are finally learning that. It took a while, but it finally happened." Spen chuckled.

Ali pushed him but didn't stop laughing.

They enjoyed their joke as they walked in silence back to the inn. "Where did you go this morning?" Ali asked out of nowhere.

"I was out getting some supplies." Spen answered simply.

"But we just did that."

"That was supplies for the journey, this was for something else." He answered.

Ali thought for a moment, "Are you going to tell me? Or am I going to have to guess?"

He chuckled, and nodded, "You are going to have to guess, or wait."

"How long would I have to wait?" Ali wanted to know.

"I cannot tell you." Spen said calmly, knowing this would annoy her. Which it did. Ali let go of his arm and slapped him in the side, causing him to gasp. But he still wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know. After walking in silence for a few steps Ali said. "Miriam and I went to a healer's place where she showed me how to secretly talk to them without people knowing." Ali said confused, "I get the feeling that she knows something."

"Like what?" Spen asked.

"I don't know, she just said that it might come in handy one day. I feel like that there is something coming." Ali admitted. "It has me worried."

After a long pause Ali looked up at his face, and saw it lined with worry. "What do you think?" She asked concerned.

"I am not sure. It is hard to know the future." Spen said cryptically. "Do you trust her?"

"I do." Ali stated.

"Then the only thing that we can do is to keep going and hope that Miriam is being cautious." Spen concluded.

They finally wandered back to the inn, where they met back up with the others.

* * *

The next night, after a fairly fast pace, everyone was wishing that they were back in the comfortable beds of the inn instead of on the cold hard ground. Ali found that she couldn't sleep, her head was pounding. Memories were coming and going, as if they sifted through her fingers like sand. She could remember a little here and there, but it was causing her such a headache. She was sitting off to the right of the remains of the campfire looking up at the stars when Spen came and sat next to her.

"I thought you were asleep." She commented.

"I thought you were asleep as well. Why are you awake, Princess?" Spen asked.

Ali bitterly smiled, "I can't get my thoughts to settle enough for sleep to come."

After waiting for a moment to see if she was going to elaborate, Spen asked, "Why?"

"Why can't I go to sleep?" Ali clarified sighing. "I have so many faces and names that I can't seem to connect rattling around in my head that I just can't seem to fall asleep."

"Why didn't you say anything to one of us?" he asked watching her carefully.

She didn't look up at his face as she thought about her answer, "We all want my memories back and this is just an annoying side-effect. I didn't think you could do anything."

Making a face Spen bit back an angry remark, taking a deep breath instead. "There are things that we can do to help you sleep." He said when he was calmer.

Ali smiled up at him, "I know, I didn't want to bother you though. I thought that it might go away."

"Silly Girl." He shook his head, "You are going to need your sleep. We have several days of riding ahead of us. I don't want to deal with a grumpy Ali if I don't have too. Surely you have some concoction that you have learned from Miriam that you can take."

"You are not going to make me one up yourself, Encyclopedia?" Ali teased him.

Sighing, Spen said primly, "I haven't read too much on the healing arts. I really don't like them."

Breaking into a huge grin, Ali taunted, "I know something that you don't! I know something that the Encyclopedia doesn't!"

Quickly he covered her mouth with his hand and told her to hush; he didn't want the other two to wake up. Ali nodded as he brought his hand down. "Sorry, I forgot we weren't alone. But isn't often that I can say that I know something you do not."

Rolling his eyes he muttered two words and gestured over to where Ali's packs were stored. Soon her bag of medicines that Miriam had given her was floating over to land in her lap. "Show off." Ali mumbled as she open the bag. Taking the small cup from inside, she started measuring ingredients into it. "Miriam tells me that this gives a dreamless sleep. I did not want to take it because I have enjoyed the dreams. They are helping me remember."

"It will be better for you to have sleep rather than the memories. They will come back, they are coming back." Spen stated.

Having finished the mixture, Ali looked into the cup and nodded, "I know. I just can't help thinking about what I could be remembering if I don't drink this."

"Just drink it." Spen told her crossly.

She gave him a brief glare before draining the little cup and making sure that her bag was back in order before closing it and watching as Spen floated it back over to the pile of bags. "You are such a show off." She told him as she laid down on the grass.

"I have to do something to regain my wounded pride. It isn't often that you actually know something I do not." He teased.

"Oh, rub it in." Ali said looking tiredly up at him, "It is so hard being best friends with an Encyclopedia some days."

"It cannot be that bad. I am sure there are some good points about it." He countered with a smile.

Laughing Ali responded, "Ways that it is hard. Number one, I never can be the smartest one in the room. Number two, I can never say anything without being corrected. Number three…"

"Stop right there." Spen interrupted. "I did not come over here to hear a list about all my bad points. I came to make sure you get some sleep."

"I know, I know. I just can't resist making fun of…." Ali trailed off.

Spen looked over at her and threatened, "Oh no, don't you go to sleep here. Don't you dare make me have to carry you back to where your blankets are." When he received no response he sighed and carefully picked her up in his arms trying not to wake her as he took her over to where she was supposed to be asleep. As he tucked her into the blankets he whispered, "Sleep well, my princess."

* * *

Author's note- SORRY! I haven't updated in a few weeks, the holidays can to that to me. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. It is a longer one than usual to make up for the lateness.

Thanks for reviewing fell4 and Scarlett! I love reading your reviews!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Wake up, Ali."

"Come on, girl. Wake up." She heard the voice and she felt the hand on her shoulder shaking her but she didn't want to wake up. When Ali realized that it wouldn't go away she finally slowly opened her eyes to see Ban grinning down at her.

"Come on, Ali. I have a surprise for you, but you need to get up." He said, making sure that she was awake before standing up and heading away from her.

Slowly sitting up, rubbing her eyes Ali looked over to where Ban had gone. She saw him moving his body in some light stretches before picking up a wooden sword. She lumbered over to him and was just about to ask him what was going on when Ban threw the sword at her. Ali didn't even need to think in order to react. Her hand moved and caught the sword by itself.

Ban chuckled, "Spen said that your body would remember this…. Most likely….. He was a little unsure."

"When did you get the sword?" Ali asked him as she tried to copy the movements that he had been doing a moment ago with it.

"Spen picked them up while he was in town. We have been neglecting this part of your past, and it is a big part of it too." Ban went and picked up another wooden sword. "This morning I would just like to go through the basics and see what you can do."

As she went through following Ban's movements, Ali knew that she knew it. All that was needed was the reminder. Ban even commented on how easily the movements were coming to her. Ali smiled at him feeling better about her slowly recovering memory than she had in a great while.

Spen watched Ali and Ban while he packed the bags and prepared the horses. He didn't hear Miriam come up beside him until she asked, "What is that around your neck?"

Jerking up to look at her, Spen just looked at her confused.

With a lopsided grin, Miriam reached out and pulled out a half-concealed chain. "What is…?" She paused when she caught a good look at what was around the chain, "A ring?" she exclaimed. "This isn't a ring for Ali, is it?"

He yanked the chain out of her hand, glaring at her responded, "It actually belongs to Ali."He tucked it back under his shirt, "Her mother gave it to her, which she then lost it to me on a bet. Since she kept trying to steal it back, I found that I need to keep it with me at all times."

"Why would she try to steal it back?" Miriam asked her eyes alight with curiosity.

"I think that she was worried about her mother finding out that she had lost it." Spen said as he walked away stopping the conversation.

Miriam watched the young man walked away with a smile.

The ride was a peaceful one until about mid-morning when Ban noticed that there was a lone rider coming up behind them. Curious they watched his fast progress as he raced along the road approaching them. Moving off the road so he could ride by, they were surprised when he stopped before them.

Looking at Miriam he said, "I am glad that I was able to catch you. Drey sent me. He was concerned that you may have followers. Yesterday a group of soldiers came into the village asking questions about a group that may be traveling with a young human girl. He sent me to give you a warning."

Everybody looked at Ali before Ban asked, "Are they riding on the road behind us?"

The man nodded and said, "Yes, they are. I left before they did and I made good time because I was alone but they are not too far behind…. Maybe half a day…."

Flipping a silver coin at him, Miriam said, "Thank you for your warning, we are eternally grateful. Tell Drey that I appreciate the warning."

"I will tell him that." He said as he pocketed the coin, "May the gods protect you on your journey." He then turned his horse around and trotted back down the road.

Miriam called back after him, "And you on your journey." She looked over at her three companions, "I do not like the sound of those soldiers. We need to increase the distance between us and them."

Ban and Spen nodded, but Ali asked, "What if these soldiers belong to the King?"

Shaking her head Miriam said, "Drey wouldn't have sent a messenger out to us if they belonged to the King. I think that whoever kidnapped you is looking for you. Let's go." She finished as she kicked her horse into a trot. The others quickly followed her.

They spent the day alternating between a trot and a gallop, trying to rest the horses whenever they could. They also traveled until it was almost midnight and everybody was too tired to go on. As they prepared a hidden camp off to the road they talked about how the soldiers knew who where they were. Miriam thought it was how Ali was the only human in the small village and they stayed for two days, which makes people talk. Ban agreed with her. Spen quickly set a warding barrier around the camp, before they feel into an exhausted sleep.

Ban woke everybody up before the sun was up and they were quickly on the road again. According to Miriam they were two days away from the town of Isng and from Isng it was a week to the Capital City. Ban gave Ali a real sword, not just a practice sword, with the comment of "I wish that we could practice some more but we really don't have a choice hopefully you won't need to use it."

Traveling at such a quick pace with your eyes behind you looking for your pursuers was a tiring way to travel. Miriam was hoping that they could reach Isng. She said she had a friend there that could hide them until it was safe to travel again. After two days of travel they stopped on top of a hill that overlooked the valley and the town of Isng. It was late into the night. Miriam knew that this town locked its gates after dusk so there was no way of getting into the town until morning. They found hidden spot off to the side for them to camp for the night. It seemed to Ali that she had just shut her eyes when she was awoken by a giant bell sounding. Looking around she could see that all of her companions had been woken up as well.

"That is a warning from warding spell I put up." Spen shouted. "They have a mage with them, my ward is about to fall."

"Spen, stay with Ali. Don't worry about Ban and me. If you have to, run away." Miriam said as she grabbed two daggers from underneath her bedroll. Ban reaffirmed her statement as he grabbed his sword. Ali unsheathed the sword Ban had given her with some misgivings. She had only one practice, while she had been told by Spen she was quite good, she wasn't quite sure what to do. Then the ward fell. Ali heard a man shout from a distance, "We do not want to hurt you; we just want the human girl. Hand her over and no one will get hurt."

"Not happening. Just leave us alone." Spen shouted from where he was standing next to Ali causing her to jump.

"If that is the way you wish it. I can't not be responsible if anyone of you are killed." The voice called out.

That is when all chaos broke out. Men came from all around them swords raised ready to attack. Spen raised his sword and blocked one in front of him. Then using a quick spell caused the man to fly back into a tree. Turning to block another, Spen shouted at Ali, "Get your sword up. Do you want to be taken again?"

Ali shook herself out of her shock and timidly raised her sword at the men that were approaching her. The one with red hair grinned and said, "Oh look how cute, the girl has a sword."

"Do you think that she even knows how to use it?" A man with blond hair asked.

Her temper flared when she heard that, and before she knew it she had swung her sword at the red-haired man. Surprised he quickly blocked and countered. Which she quickly blocked and swung again. Still startled he backed up, tripping on a tree root. Ali hit him on the head with the flat side of her sword, knocking him out before turning to the blond-haired man. She quickly had him disarmed and unconscious on the ground. Ali found as she defended herself against the raiders that if she didn't try to think about what she was doing she could react well, but if she started to worry about her memory she would make mistakes.

Spen at one time had grabbed her hand and then sprinted deeper into the woods dragging her behind him. They fought off their pursuers until they found themselves alone in the woods. Not knowing how safe they were they continued to walk for a good while before they stopped for a brief rest. That was Ali noticed that Spen's arm was bleeding. "Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" Ali demanded.

"You have been hurt as well." Spen said gently touching a nick on her own arm.

"That is not a nick." She said angrily as she pointed to his arm, "That is a gash and needs to be bandaged before you lose too much blood." Looking around her, Ali remembered that her medical kit that Miriam had given her was back at the camp. So she tore some strips off the bottom of her tunic and began to clean and bandage his arm. She was just about done when they heard a growl come from the left of them. They both turned in time to see a large blackish-blue cat leaping towards Spen. It landed on Spen causing them both to go tumbling to the ground. Ali grabbed her sword from its sheath and thrust it into the cats belly killing the beast.

Pushing the dead cat off of Spen, Ali noticed that his hurt arm now had several bite marks added to the injuries. He was doubled up in pain though. Concerned she asked him, "Why does it hurt so much?"

"Venom…." He panted out, "That was a werecat…. It was…. attracted by the blood…. They have venom in their teeth… It is quite painful…. and can be deadly if it is not treated."

"What is the antidote? We need to get some." Ali asked panicked.

"I… I…. don't know." Spen mumbled.

"How can you not know?" Ali exclaimed, "You're the encyclopedia!"

"The short article that I read about the werecats did not include the antidote for the venom." Spen whispered back. His eyes were closing. He was having a hard time keeping them open. Ali looked around and saw a Rue plant growing off a little way. She rushed to it and started plucking off the leaves. Miriam had told her that the leaves could be used on a wound to help heal it and purify it. Not knowing what else to do. Ali cleaned his arm for the second time that day, put the rue leaves on the wound and bound it again. She finally took her sword out of the dead cat, cleaned the blade the best she could and put it back in the sheath on her belt. Ali then woke Spen up and hauled his long body up, putting his good arm around her shoulder and started to slowly hobble. She knew that they needed to keep going. Hopefully if she was lucky, she could somehow make it to Isng, and find one of Miriam's healer friends to help out Spen.

It turned out that she had no luck left. They hadn't been walking for more than five minutes when the men that attacked the camp found them.

* * *

Author's note- haha a cliffhanger for you all! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter please review!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Ali slowly backed up when she saw her attackers. It was hard to move with Spen moving so sluggishly. She was concerned for him, these attackers wanted her unharmed but what would they do to him? Drawing her sword she looked around cautiously at the faces of the men approaching her. She would fight if she had too.

"That won't be necessary, my dear princess." A tall man said sweetly as he walked from behind the soldiers.

Trying to balance Spen against her shoulder and arm, and holding a sword with the other arm was tricky but Ali managed it while she asked, "Who are you? And what do you want from me?"

The man laughed and commented, "You did lose your memory. My head mage Phylis wasn't sure that the spell had taken root in your mind. Especially how we had such a hard time finding you."

"Who are you?" Ali demanded again.

"I am being rude, aren't I. Not introducing myself like I should. I am Duke Anton. And you will make me a King." He said completely sure of his statement.

Confused Ali asked, "How in Sarthe's name can I make you King? My brother is the heir not me."

Shaking his head at her, Duke Anton answered, "Not King of Tercel, but King of Cercel. Why would I want to be King of humans?" he finished with a sneer on his face.

"I don't understand." Ali said not following his logic, "How can I help you become King here?"

Sighing, he responded, "This is one disadvantage to a memory-loss spell, you have to explain everything all over again. But I fear I don't want to discuss this out in the open. Let's get back to my home and I will explain everything there."

"No." Ali stated. When he looked at her incredulously she went on, "My friend here needs a healer so I will be taking him to one."

"That is not possible," Duke Anton said, "I warned you that if you didn't give yourself up then I wouldn't be responsible for anyone deaths. We will leave him here."

"No, you won't." Ali said again. This time she raised her sword to her own neck. "If you want me to go with you alive, then you will be taking Spen along to be healed."

Duke Anton glared at her through narrowed eyes before commenting, "Don't do anything rash, my dear. You don't want to make idle threats that you will not actually do."

Chuckling Ali put the blade on her neck and made a scratch along it, drawing a very small well of blood, "You think this threat is idle? I assure you that it is not. Swear to me under the gods that you will bring him along and find a healer for him."

"You care for this _mage _that much?" saying mage as if it was a bad smell under his boot.

"Spen is a childhood friend that is only here to rescue me. I will not let him die because of me." Ali responded with a glare. "Now swear to me, or else." Ali raised the tip of her sword again.

"You are such a disagreeable lass." Duke Anton sighed. "Fine. I swear under the gods that I will bring the Mage Spen with us and find him a healer for his wounds." He paused and looked at Ali, "Happy? Will you put down the sword now?"

Going over his words Ali's stressed mind couldn't think of anything else although she was sure that she was missing something. Nodding to him, Ali slowly lowered the sword and threw it on the ground.

"Excellent." Duke Anton smiled at her, "Now please give your mage over to my soldiers and it is time we were on our way."

Two blank-faced men came and took Spen from her, while Duke Anton grabbed her upper arm and lead her through the woods to where the horses had been left. As she was walking Ali realized that she had no clue what had happened to Ban and Miriam. "My other companions, what happened to them?" She asked the Duke.

"They escaped." He replied shortly. "And since my goal was capturing you, I didn't pursue them."

He led the way to a black horse and put her on it. He then tied her hands to the saddle horn. When Ali protested, Duke Anton calmly replied that he was just making sure that she couldn't escape. As the other soldiers prepared their horses, Ali saw Spen being draped over a while horse and tied down so he wouldn't fall off. Worried she watched him, he seemed to be unconscious. Would they get to a healer in time?

When everybody was on their horses, Ali's horse, which was tethered to the Duke's was led into a strange box-like formation. When she asked about it, Duke Anton answered, "We will be doing a traveling spell that allows us to move much faster than we can ride. Of course you need five mages in order to do it, which I brought along. I didn't want to spend two weeks on the road in order to get back home." He said with a smile at her before continuing on proudly. "Usually only the King uses this spell, but I found mages that are powerful enough to do it. That is also how I was able to grab you through the portal. You will see that there is a Mage in each corner of the square and the fifth one is in the middle behind us, evening out the power of the spell."

Ali shivered as they evoked the spell, the horses still trotted down the road but the scenery flew by in an indescribable blur. Looking at the blurs made Ali dizzy, so she closed her eyes and ducked her head. They had been riding for what seemed like the whole day when Ali felt the horses stop. Opening her eyes she looked up at a large barony on a hill.

"Here we are." The mage behind them said.

"Thank you." Duke Anton said to him, "Another well performed spell."

"You are welcome." The mage replied.

Duke Anton looked over at Ali and said, "Come my dear. Time for you to see and remember." He kicked his horse forward into a walk and her horse followed. The soldiers and mages followed behind them. After they passed through the gates, Ali noticed that the soldiers went the opposite direction than Duke Anton was going, protesting to him about how he promised to take care of Spen. He responded with a flap of his hand and said that the soldiers were under orders to take care of him. Ali was cut free from the saddle horn and was escorted into the main house by the Duke.

Ali was nervous, she didn't like being in this place, she didn't like touching the Duke. (even if it was only his arm) she was tired of all this traveling, she wanted to be home. He led her into a mages workroom. Immediately this room felt familiar. Ali knew that she had been here before.

_Ali felt herself being pulled through the portal, she tried to fight the hands that pulled her but nothing seemed to work. Suddenly she was in a workroom and there were sylvan all around her. Shrugging off the hands on her shoulders she demanded, "Where am I? Who are you? Why have you taken me?"_

_A tall sylvan walked forward and answered, "So many questions. I am Duke Anton. You are here to make me King."_

"_How can I make you King?" She asked cross._

"_This is not a good time to answer that question. You need to rest and get used to being here." He answered. Looking over her shoulder, he nodded at someone and said, "Yes, let go of the portal. We don't want any unexpected visitors."_

_Ali looked back to see several mages around an open portal, she moved to dash toward it when hands appeared to grip her arm stopping her as she watched the portal move across the room and disappear through the wall. "We can't have you running away so soon, my dear princess." Duke Anton commented from besides her his hand around her arm. "I worked so hard to extend this invitation to you."_

Ali shook her head in an attempt to clear the memory from her head, she turned to the Duke and asked, "When are you going to tell me why you think I can make you King?"

Shrugging his shoulders he replied, "I think right now you need some rest. Lea will show you to your rooms and help you get cleaned up." He gestured at a maid standing by the wall before walking down the hall, his boot heels clicking on the stone.

The maid called Lea came forward with a curtsy and said, "If you will follow me, I will show you to your rooms."

Ali followed Lea down several halls before they finally stopped and went inside a set of adjoining rooms. The first room was large with a four poster bed and a sitting area. From the adjoining room Ali could hear water running. Most likely that was the bathroom. This room looked familiar as well. "I have stayed in these rooms before, haven't I?" She asked the maid.

Looking at her surprised, Lea answered, "Yes, you have." Pausing for a second she continued on, "It is true then, you did lose your memory."

Wandering around the room looking it over, Ali answered, "Yes it is. I have gained most of it back, but I don't remember much about this place."

Lea looked concerned as she watched Ali pace around the room before saying, "A bath is being drawn up as we speak. Let's get all that road dust off of you, and then let you get some rest."

Ali nodded as she changed her course to the bathroom. Lea chattered on as she washed Ali's hair, Ali didn't pay much attention to it, her thoughts kept returning to Spen. She was wondering where he was right now, on whether or not a healer had seen him yet. As Lea was dressing her, Ali asked, "Can you find out about my companion for me? He is a mage that has been wounded and brought here, Can you find out where he is?"

A surprised look flashed across Lea's face, before she bobbed down in a quick curtsy and said that she would find him for her.

Ali laid down on the bed, exhaustion was creeping in and soon she couldn't keep her eyes open bringing a dream with the sleep.

_She was sitting at a window seat in her room, gazing out the window mind distracted by her scattered thoughts. Ali didn't hear her younger sister approaching until she said, "Ali? Are you listening to me?"_

"_What? Did you ask something, Sophie?" Ali asked her still distracted._

"_I asked what you were thinking." Sophie replied pushing her glasses back up her nose._

_Thinking about the question Ali responded, "I am thinking that I am bored, but I don't know what to do."_

_Sighing Sophie asked resigned, "You aren't going to play another prank on somebody, are you? You always do that when you are bored. Then you get in trouble and Spen right along with you." _

"_Why do you care what happens to Spen?" Ali asked smiling._

"_He is a fellow mage, I am concerned about how much trouble you get him into." Sophie said matter-factly._

_Unable to keep her smile from growing, Ali asked, "It has nothing to do with the fact that you like him, does it?"_

_Sophie kept a blank face, she had always been a serious child, "No, he is five years older than I am. Anyways thirteen is too young for a romance, not when I am trying to become a mage myself."_

_Nodding Ali fought to keep a straight face, changing the subject she asked, "Did you come just to see what I am thinking about, or do you something else for me?"_

"_Yes, James wants to see you. He seemed very anxious to see you." Sophie said with annoyed look on her face._

"_Thank you, Soph for telling me. I know you don't like him." Ali said as she stood up._

"_I don't like him because he has a mean streak." Sophie replied as her sister walked out the door._

The dream blurred and when it became clear again, Ali was in a different place.

_Ali was now in their tutoring room, extremely pleased with herself. She had just pulled off the best prank with James. He had to convince her for some of it, and she had a feeling that Spen might be a little cross with her but he would see the fun of it after a while. _

_Hearing the door open behind her, she turned to say something and stopped cold. Spen had walked in and slammed the door shut. His faced clouded with fury. Ali managed to stammer out, "What is wrong?"_

"_WHAT IS WRONG?" He yelled at her, "What is wrong? … You broke your promise to me." He accused as his voice dropped._

"_What promise?" Ali asked._

"_You know exactly what promise. You promised me that you would never use the Bancel Lightening Spell for a prank. I should have never taught you that, it is too dangerous."_

"_What is so dangerous about it? We used it carefully." Ali protested._

"_WE?... who is WE?" Spen asked._

"_I won't give that up, I have his confidence." Ali stated._

"_He?... I am guessing that it was James." Spen said glaring at her._

"_I am not saying anything."_

_Spen spat out, "How can you sit here and protect him? Do you know that you hurt somebody? They are at the healers right now. HOW COULD YOU HAVE USED THAT SPELL?"_

"_Somebody got hurt?" Ali asked mortified, "How can that be? We took all the precautions."_

"_Now you ask yourself that question." Spen spat out turning his back to her._

"_I don't understand…" Ali started before Spen interrupted. _

"_You don't understand. How can you not understand? You hang out with that James, and then he talks you into things that hurt people. Do you want to be like him? Because if you do I will have no more to do with you. Think about that." Spen said before turning and marched out of the room causing the door to slam loudly again._

Ali woke up, confused that was a strange memory to have right now. She remembered it clearly now, Spen had been so mad at her and it took weeks for her even to get him to talk to him. It was months before he had forgiven her. The annoying thing is he had been right, Ali had allowed James to twist her judgment. She wondered again how Spen was doing, Ali sent a prayer up asking for him to be alright.

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Author's note- hoped you enjoyed reading it, Thanks Fell4 and Ashley for the reviews! Have I told you how awesome you are!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Pacing around her rooms Ali felt like a locked up cat. She would stop at the windows and peer out before continuing to pace. Waking up hours before and only seeing one serving maid that brought her breakfast Ali wanted some news. She wanted to be able to ask about Spen, why she had been brought here, and how she could leave. Lea hadn't returned since last night, which puzzled her. Finally around what she deemed to be lunch time there was a knock on the door and then Duke Anton walked in. Crossing her arms in front of her, Ali demanded, "Are you going to telling why you brought me here?"

Laughing he stopped about a foot in front of her, "Yes, I will tell you today. But first if you will come with me." He held out his elbow for her to grab.

Ali shook her head and commented, "No, I think I am fine walking on my own." She clasped her hands behind her and started walking towards the door.

Duke Anton grabbed her arm and pulled her by him, "You will come with me."

Glaring at him she replied, "I was going to come with you, I just didn't feel that I needed to hang on your elbow every step of the way."

His grip on her arm tightened as he said, "I am to be your husband, the sooner you get that, the happier you will be."

Wincing at the pain in her arm Ali tried to say calmly, "You are hurting my arm, and I still don't know why you think I will be your wife."

Slowly releasing his grip on her arm, he held out his elbow again, "I am going to show you why we are destined to be married."

Reluctantly Ali put her hand on the offered arm and walked with him out the door. They walked down to the main floor of the house and into a big room filled with books. Duke Anton widely gestured to the room and said, "This room was my father's pride and joy. He spent his whole life finding and buying the books that are here. What I want you to see if over there." He pointed to a display case on the far side of the room. They walked over there and Ali looked in. There was a single sheet of paper, with six short lines written on it.

A Middle Tercel Princess

Born in the dark of the moon

bringing light

To him who is lost and

Will be the next queen

After she marries, making him King.

Confused Ali looked up at the Duke and asked, "What exactly is this?"

"This, my dear princess, is a Sylvan prophesy of the highest degree. Seven lines, seven seers. Seven being a highly magical number."

"But there are only six lines." Ali interrupted.

Sighing he chided, "I am trying to explain, let me finish." He looked down at the paper, "When such a prophesy occurs, each of the seven seers are scattered across the kingdom. They are required by law to report their line to the king. You see each seer only receives one line. Therefore only when all seven lines are put together will you know the while prophesy. Only in this case One seer did not report. But there is enough here to be able to discern that you will become queen and I will be your King." He finished haughtily.

"How do you know that you will be King? Because I am certainly not going to marry you." Ali stated back to him.

Smiling down at her, he responded, "Because you are here, and I have all the time in the world to make you change your mind."

"Is that why I lost my memory?" Ali asked.

"Looks like you figured it out, I was hoping that after your memory had been wiped that I could come in as your savior and you would fall in love with me. And no matter what the present King or your father did, they couldn't annul the marriage because you did it willingly. I will have to come up with a new tactic, now that most of your memories have returned." He said the last part to himself as he looked at the window.

Ali stepped away from him in disgust and shouted at him, "You keep dreaming because I will never willingly marry you!" And she turned around and ran as fast as her layers of skirts would let her toward the door. She heard him say something but ignored it as she focused on the door. Suddenly she couldn't move anymore, she was frozen, with her hands holding her skirts off the floor and one foot off the ground in a running stride. Chuckling Duke Anton walked over to her, "I have to give you this, you definitely have spirit. I will be fun crushing that out of you." Making a gesture with his hand her leg that was off the ground came down to touch the floor. "Can't have you falling, now could we?" He asked as he slowly came closer, his eyes lustily traveling over her. "You are a beautiful one, has any one told you that? You should be in a pretty dress all the time, not those filthy traveling clothes that you were in yesterday." Tracing a finger down her face, Ali tried to move away from him but couldn't. He lightly traced the outside of her mouth before moving down her neck, "Yes indeed." He whispered, "I am definitely lucky for such a beautiful bride." He moved in and kissed her hard on the mouth.

Ali fighting her body to move, tried not to cry. She hated this man and his high-handed way of doing things. Who was he to decide who she should marry? Finally he moved away and smiled at her. Ali just glared back at him. Laughing at his response he commented, "You will come to like me, maybe even love me. For now we will just continue like this." He turned around and started to walk out the door, "I will have Lea retrieve you for lunch shortly." The Duke said before disappearing out the door leaving Ali frozen in the library to think.

First she was furious, How dare he treat her this way? She wasn't something he could just throw around. As her fury faded away, it was replaced with worry, how was she going to get out of this place? How was she going to find Spen and get him out? Was she ever going to get home? After a while she thrust those thoughts out and determination to escape filled her. She first needed to get out of this freezing spell. She had magic she knew that from the memories she had regained, she remembered getting into an argument with Spen because he wanted her to take her level three magic tests and she didn't want to work that hard to pass them, she was fine with being a level two. Which annoyed him more than ever because her younger sister Sophie was already a level three and Sophie was ten at the time.

Ali focused her thoughts inside her and tried to find that little shining ball of magic inside of her. When she finally found it, she used a little of it to poke her magic on her skin keeping her frozen. After a little poking and shoving, Ali noticed that it moved. She concentrated on her hands first, moving the spell farther and farther away until she could move her aching hands. As she became better at moving the spell it was easier to free herself. Finally she move her whole body and she quickly went out into the hallway where she almost bumped into Lea. Lea was surprised, "The Master said that you had a spell on you. How can you move?"

"My Magic." Ali stated, "It may not be very strong but at least I can get out of that spell. Were you able to find my friend?"

Lea motioned Ali to follow her. "I was." Lea whispered as they walked back to Ali's rooms. "He is not doing very well, they have him in one of the dungeons. They did have a healer come to him once last night but not since."

Ali stared at Lea in horror, she now knew what she had missed when she made Duke Anton promise, she didn't make him promise to have Spen completely healed just seen to by a healer, which had happened. "Can you take me to see him? Do you have access to a healer's kit? I can hopefully help him a little bit."

Lea thought about her request for a moment before saying, "Tonight, after the Master goes to sleep, I can take you. And I will have your healer's kit."

The afternoon went by slowly, Ali considered herself lucky that Duke Anton hadn't come back to keep her company. She must have dozed off in a chair because she found herself having another dream.

_She was being dragged to a horse, she was fighting which was not successful because her hands were tied before her._

"_My dear princess, come along we need to get you out of here before King Jeneth gets here. He seems to think that I was the person that kidnapped you and he wants to search my place. Come on." Duke Anton pulled on her arm again. _

"_No!" She screamed, "I actually would like to be found." _

_Ali was thrown up to her horse and a second rider hopped up behind her putting a arm like steel around her waist and kicking the horse into movement. Others moved around her, creating the box formation required for the travel spell. The world became blurred and dizzy as the spell took effect. After about an hour of riding in this blurred state Ali could feel her riding companions grip relax. She also felt herself becoming disoriented. It might just be the ride, but Duke Anton had given her a strange smelling cup of liquid and had forced her to drink it before he had forced her on the horse, it could be that as well. She needed to escape while she had the chance. Quickly before she thought about it too much she rammed her head back into the head of her riding companion and threw herself off of the horse. Hitting the ground while at the speeds of the traveling spell was rough. She laid there for several moments waiting for her breathe to return. The sky was still spinning when she finally tried to stand. She knew that she need to get on her feet and run. They were coming, at the moment she wasn't quite sure who was coming but someone was definitely coming. _

Ali jerked out of her sleep, she knew how she had escaped last time, that is why they had tied her hands to the saddle horn when they had brought her here. But how was she going to escape this time?

When Lea finally came to take her to Spen, Ali was feeling very anxious. Quickly and quietly Ali followed Lea down to the dungeons. Ali was surprised that there were no guards on duty and when she asked Lea about that, Lea replied, "Not all of the guards are happy about how The Master has captured you and your friend and are keeping you here. The guard on duty has promised to look away for an hour. That is all you will have." Ali nodded as Lea opened the door. She gasped in surprise as she saw a very pale Spen lying on a mangled looking cot.

Running to his side, Ali picked up his uninjured hand and whispered, "Spen, It's me, Ali. Are you awake?"

He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "Ali…?" he stammered out. "How are you… here?"

"One of the maids helped me." Ali said as she smoothed his sweat ridden hair back from his face. "How are you doing?"

He chuckled for a moment before it turned into a cough, "There was a healer that came yesterday, and I felt better after that but not so much now."

Ali turned her attention to his bandaged arm and slowly peeled the bandages off. "I don't know exactly what to use but I will try." She motioned Lea to bring her the healer's pouch that she carried. As Lea came forward she looked at Spen in awe. "Here you go, princess." She said before quickly backing away. Ali looked at her confused for a moment before shaking off her unease and rummaged through the pack looking for something to help her. Replacing the herbs and bandages Ali hoped that what she choose would help him. Spen had stayed quiet and watched her the whole time through drowsy eyes. When she was done she clasped his hand again and finger combed his hair back as she smiled watery at him. "We are going to get out of this somehow. Just wait and see." Ali reassured him.

Spen shook his head, wincing at some pain, "No, princess. I don't think I will. The poison is in my system. Only a good healer could get it out now. And somehow I don't see our host going and getting one."

"I won't let you die." Ali firmly stated. "I will figure out a way to get you a healer."

Sighing, Spen let go of her hand and fumbled for something around his neck, "This is yours. I won it in a bet. I should give it back to you."

"No, Spen." Ali protested, "You will regret giving it back to me."

Spen forced it into her hand. "Maybe, or maybe not. But you need to find some way to escape. Promise me you will."

"We will both find a way to escape." Ali declared.

What Spen was going to say next was interrupted by Lea saying it was time to go, the guard was about to come back. "I will be back, Encyclopedia." Ali said quickly, before kissing him lightly on the forehead, and allowed herself to be pulled out of the little room by Lea.

When she was back in her rooms, Ali laid in bed and stared at the object that Spen had given her. It was a simple white pearl set in a gold ring. She put it on her finger and looked at it in the flickering candle light. She had seen this ring before, someone had given it to her. She searched her memory, knowing that it had to be in there somewhere. She remembered losing to Spen on a bet about who would last the longest in a mock mage battle between them. She had tried stealing it back from him several times because her mother would be furious if she knew that Ali had lost it in a bet. Her mind went back to her mother, her mother had given it to her.

_Queen Elena came into Ali's bedroom on the eve of her sixteenth birthday. "I have a special present for you my dear. And it is very important that you hold it in the highest regard." The Queen held out a delicate hand with a small box on it for Ali to take._

_Surprised at this, Ali took the box and slowly opened it, to reveal a single white pearl set in a gold ring. She looked up into her mother's eyes, her brown eyes meeting her mother's blue. "What is so special about a ring?"_

_Her mother laughed, "I received this ring from your grandmother with very important instructions which I am telling you. I was told to give you this ring on your sixteenth birthday and that it would help you in a very dangerous situation." Holding up her hand to quell her daughter's questions she continued, "It is a transporting ring. They are made from pearls that have been taken from the magical green oyster in the pink sea on the other side of the world. Each pearl has the ability to transport someone three times before it loses its power and becomes a black pearl. This ring only has one time left. Your grandmother gave it to me like that, and I am giving it to you with the admonition to only use it in a life and death situation. She told me that you would be in one, so save it until then, please promise me you will keep it with you." Queen Elena eyes looked at her daughters eyes pleading._

"_I promise, Mama." Ali stammered as she put on the ring._

"_Good." Queen Elena smiled and hugged her, "Now, I was told that in order to make it work you have to think about where you want to go. It needs to be a clear picture in your head. You can take anything or anyone as long as you are touching them. Do you understand that?" Ali nodded her head and the Queen went on, "Next you twist the pearl three times and then tap it three times and it will take you to where you envisioned yourself." Queen Elena made Ali repeat that several times before hugging her again and kissing her goodnight._

Ali jerked up out of bed, looking in wonder at the ring. This was her way out, and by holding onto Spen she could get him out of there are well. She looked out the window and saw the sun barely beginning to rise. Excited about her plans to escape she bounced out of bed and quickly pulled on the first dress she saw. She pulled the bell, hoping that Lea would help her with her escape.

Lea arrived still rubbing her eyes, trying to wake up. "Lea, if I tell you that I know of a way that I can escape, would you help me?"

Looking at Ali with confusion, "Do you have a sure way to escape? Because if it doesn't work you will find yourself locked up."

"I do. But I need supplies, the right clothes and another trip to see Spen." Ali said eagerly.

"What is it?" Lea asked and then changed her mind, "No, don't tell me, and then I can answer true fully that I have no clue how you escaped."

Ali ginned at her, and said, "Hurry, get those supplies. When do you think you can have them gathered and in the dungeon where Spen is?"

"It will take most of the morning to do it without causing suspicion." Lea thoughtfully said, "Let's try for this afternoon, when the Master takes his daily ride."

"Good," Ali said, and then sent Lea off to start her tasks.

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Author's note- Time to stop, this chapter is long enough. I hoped you enjoyed it. Thanks for the Reviews Fell4 and Ashley!


	11. Chapter 11

I just re-uploaded this chapter, breaking up some long paragraphs that were in it. Thanks for pointing them out Fell4 :)

Chapter 11

Ali paced around the room, spinning the pearl ring on the chain Spen had used. After spending a few moments wondering if Spen knew what the ring truly was, Ali dismissed that train of thought and started thinking of the best place to transport to. After she had received the ring from her mother, Ali had researched transporting rings. They could not move from world to world, they also could only take you to places you have been before.

Ali now regretted never going to the Capital City when her father went there for meeting with King Jeneth. She had also only been to three cities on her journey here. The cities had the highest probability of finding a healer. Miriam's hometown was too far away from the Capital City. That left Pos and Isng. Ali was considering going to Pos, she had been inside the Healer's house and could use the ring to get there. But it was also almost two weeks away from their destination. Isng was much closer but she couldn't transport into the city since she hadn't been there yet. This would make her lose time as she searched for a healer.

Mind lost in thought Ali paced through much of the morning, debuting each place. She only had one encounter with Duke Anton. That was her presence was demanded for lunch and then a stroll through the garden afterward. Gritting her teeth and forcing herself not to say anything as she listened to him boast and brag about he had found her with his spies, Ali was able to manage that encounter with no forced kisses, or freezing spells.

When she returned from lunch, Ali found Lea waiting for her with a simple brown dress on the bed and a large packed bag. Smiling gratefully at Lea, Ali asked, "Did you have any problem getting all of this?"

Shaking her head, Lea responded, "No. It wasn't that hard. Like some of the guards, there are other staff members who are willing to help. Duke Anton will have some problems with his horse throwing his shoe on this afternoon's ride. That will give you some more time to get away. It was the best we could think of in such short amount of time." Lea finished with a small shrug.

Ali gave her a grateful hug, "Thank you, it will be plenty of time. Will you get in trouble for helping me?"

Lea looked away to the window and sighed, "I don't know how the Master will react. Although I think it might be time to start looking for another place to serve. Hopefully I will see you again."

Not knowing how to respond to that Ali just echoed, "Yes, Hopefully we will see each other again, someday." She quickly then changed her clothes, picked up the bag and followed Lea out of the room and down to the dungeons.

There was a guard there this time when they approached the door, he gruffly told her, "You only have a few minutes with him by order of Duke Anton. Spend it wisely." Casting her a wink, he opened the door, let her in and then banged it shut and locked it. Ali stood for a moment with her back to the door, alone and surprised at the guard. Looking over at the mangled cot she saw that it was very clear that Spen was worse than he had been the day before. She hurried over to him and put her hand on his forehead, it was hot, very hot. His eyes flickered open and shut in response to her touch. "Spen?" Ali asked timidly. "Are you awake?"

The answer to her question was silence. Ali was hoping that he could help her decide where to transport to, but Spen was not able to answer her. Brushing back his sweat-soaked hair, Ali ran over her choices again.

Making up her mind, Ali made sure that her bag was securely strapped around her, carefully sat Spen up, wrapped a blanket around him, and draped one of his arms around her shoulders. This movement caused his head to roll forward onto her shoulder, Ali could feel the heat from his fever on her neck.

Pushing back her concern for him, she carefully imagined her destination and twisted the pearl three times, then tapped it three times. The world around them grew fuzzy and her stomach lurched. Suddenly their surrounding snapped into focus and Ali found herself in the small glen that they had camped in, just outside the town of Isng.

Carrying, half dragging the larger Spen, Ali laid him out under some bushes and tucked the blanket around him. "I am going to get you some help, Spen." She told him as she took a cloth and gently wiped his face with it. "I will be back before dark, I am not sure if you can hear me, but stay here and I will be back very soon." With that Ali wrapped a cloak around her shoulders and pulled up the hood. Setting down the road at the fastest walk that she could manage Ali headed toward the town.

Reaching the town didn't take too long then heedless of the curious looks sent her way because of her cloak Ali speed through the streets. Since she was afraid to show that she was human, Ali didn't want to ask for directions, but it seemed that she would never find the right shop. It was taking too long, Ali thought as her heart raced with anxiety, maybe she should have gone back to Pos, at least she knew where the healers shop was there. But Ali was worried about spies, and not being able to find Miriam and Ban.

At last, on the last street she found the proper sign hanging in the window. Rushing in and up to the wizened old man behind the counter, she blurted out, "Do you have wolfs bane, cornflowers, and redfish?"

Looking at her very surprised and peering at her face, trying to see it through the shadows of her hood, the old man cautiously answered, "I do have those ingredients and they are in my backroom, if you would like to follow me?" He steadily led the way around the counter to a room in the back. He closed the door and looked at her curiously. "Who are you? And how do you know the code?"

Throwing back her hood, Ali rambled, "My name is Ali, and we don't have much time. I have a friend who is very ill just outside of town. He was injured on the arm and then a werecat bite him and then we were captured and it has been a couple of days and I am worried that it might be too late."

The old man held up a wrinkled hand signaling her to stop, "If time is short like you have indicated, I will get the full story from you later. Listen carefully I want you to leave the shop," Holding up his hand again he stopped her from interrupting, "Yes, leave the shop. Then leave town, start walking towards your friend, I will be along shortly with a wagon and will pick you up. This way people in town don't know that I am with you. What side of town did you come in?"

Ali told him the direction, and then followed his directions. She forced herself to walk slowly, even appearing to stop and look at a few of the street stalls before heading out of town. It wasn't long before she heard a horse clopping behind her. The old man was behind the horse driving a wagon. He motioned for her to get in the back of the wagon before starting down the road again.

Showing him where to pull off Ali quickly jumped out of the wagon, and ran to where she had left Spen. He was in the same position that she had left him in, sleeping fitfully. "Look Spen," Ali said as she picked up his uninjured hand. "I brought help like I said I was going to. You're going to be alright." She looked up at the old man as he knelt down on the other side of Spen, "What is your name, anyways? I forgot to ask you."

"Palani. You were right to be worried about your friend. Hopefully we are able to help him. He needs to drink this, can you raise his head for me?" Palani asked.

Nodding Ali gently raised Spen's head and watched as Palani had him drink something from a small vial. Giving her a short nod to signal that he was done, she set it back down and watched him as he expertly took off the old bandage on his arm, quickly cleaned the gooey infected mess, and wrapped it up again. After putting his supplies back in his healer's kit, he made a face at Spen. "What?" Ali asked.

"I was just trying to figure out the best way for the two of us to get your long friend into the wagon." Palani answered.

He motioned for Ali to one side and he took the other arm and together they lifted Spen up and somehow made it to the wagon. They were both breathing deeply as they settled him into the back of the wagon. "I should have brought one of my grandchildren to help me." Palani said as he climbed up to the driver's seat. "You stay back there and try to keep him steady. Also stay out of view when we get into town. Let's keep this a secret if we can, shall we?" Nodding in agreement, Ali laid down next to Spen's uninjured arm and put her arm around his middle.

The wagon ride was only slightly bumpy as they rode slowly back to town. When they reached town, Ali watched the tops of the buildings go by as they snaked their way back to the healer's shop. When the wagon stopped she waited until Palani climbed down off the driver's seat, disappeared for a moment before climbing into the back with a girl around her same age following him.

Helping get Spen into the house was much easier with another set of hands to help them. They put him into a little room in the back of the house, then shooed Ali into another room. When Ali protested, Palani replied, "We need to clean his arm again, only this time a more thorough cleaning is needed, not the rush job I did before and it will be a lot easier without you pacing about."

Ali was then left alone in a small workroom, that had a long table in the middle of it and shelves a full of books and ingredients and supplies used for healing.

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Author's note- Not as long as some of my chapters but I had a hard time writing this chapter and figure that putting up a little is better than nothing. Thanks for the reviews Fell4 and Ashley! Keep the reviews coming!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"_Aren't you supposed to be in your tutoring session right now?" Lyssa asked Ali as she sat in a chair besides her. They were sitting in front of a long rectangular table in the corner of the library._

_Looking up at her friend Ali rolled her eyes. "I would be if Mage Jenkins could find me."_

"_I know he is looking around." Lyssa said, "I saw him prowling around one of the classrooms."_

"_All I know is I got the short end of the stick. The Encyclopedia gets to go on a trip and I have to stay here and be tutored by Mage Jenkins. Definitely not happy about that one." Ali said crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair._

_Lyssa smiled at her and commented, "If you really wanted to go, you could have convinced your father that it was a good educational experience for you and you needed to go." _

_Grimacing Ali replied, "But that would have required going to Cercel, and staying at the Palace for four weeks. I'm about to turn nineteen, King Jeneth and my father would have taken that as an opportunity to introduce me to every eligible Duke and Lord over there in an attempt to get me married to somebody. Letting them strengthen the bonds between our two worlds." Ali said the last sentence in a mocking deep voice of her father._

_Lyssa laughed at her voice, "That is one advantage of not being royalty. I don't have any pressure to do things like that. Your brother is already happily married, so I don't get any pressure to try and marry him to become queen either."_

"_That would be strange for you to marry my brother." Ali shuttered._

"_Not to mention he is ten years older than us." Lyssa commented back. "Can you imagine marrying someone ten years older than you?"_

"_I have imagined it." Ali spoke in a soft voice, "It happens a lot in a royal family, where marriages are often made because of treaties, or arrangements."She smiled briefly at Lyssa, "Although my mother told me once that I can marry anyone I wanted. And if they try any of that on me, I will bring that up and refuse whole-heartedly."_

"_Very nice." Lyssa said as she looked around the library, "Now remind me again why you are hiding from Mage Jenkins."_

_Shrugging Ali thought for a moment, "Because I can. Spen would have found me within five minutes. It has almost been an hour for Mage Jenkins."_

_With a confused look on her face, Lyssa asked, "How does Spen find you so fast? He seems to do it quite well."_

"_I know!" Ali said with feeling, "I have been using this time trying to research how he does it so well, so when he gets back, I can hide from him and see if it works."_

"_Have you come up with anything so far?" Lyssa asked looking over at the pile of books Ali had in front of her._

_Ali shook her head, "Not really. I have some possibilities but they require testing and without Spen here I can't test any of them yet."_

"_What are they?" Lyssa asked curious._

"_One might be that he tags my magic, so if I use it, he can track it to find me. But a problem with that is I don't always use magic to hide." Ali explained, "Another might be that he has somehow put a tag on me, but I don't think that could be it because those are easy to remove, washing, changing clothes can remove it. I can't completely rule them out until I test it but I can't think of anything that explains it better."_

_Lyssa stared blankly at the books for a long moment before smiling broadly, "Do you think that it is because he is always watching you? He seems to always know where you are in a room if he is in there as well."_

_Ali just looked at her friend as if she were crazy, "What are you talking about?"_

"_Have you ever noticed that he keeps tabs on you? If you were both in this library, he would know what table you were sitting at, even though he was on the other side." Lyssa explained her hands moving with her words excitedly._

"_I don't have a clue what you are talking about." Ali said firmly, "He has to be using magic when I hide from him, that is the only explanation." _

_Smiling knowingly Lyssa just nodded her head and looked around the library again. "Oh, look Mage Jenkins finally came in here to look for you. Do you think that he will notice your invisibility spell?"_

"_No," was the flat answer, "He hasn't noticed once in the last week and a half. So I doubt that he would notice now."_

"_Are you planning on hiding from him the whole time?" Lyssa asked._

_Ali shrugged, "I don't know. We will see how things go." And opened a book that was in front of her. Lyssa watched her for a moment before standing up and moving away to find someone else to talk to._

_Another week and a half went by to find Ali not in the library as she had been but outside lying in the grass looking up at the sky. She was bored. She couldn't even remember the last time she had been this bored. Researching in books was much easier when Spen was around, if he was in a good mood he would have told her what books to look in and even the page number. As she watched the clouds float by she pondered about why she felt so restless, like something was missing. _

_At first she thought it was because she was spending so much time trying to find a way to trick Spen that she had been neglecting her sword work. But she had practiced hard for the last few days and the feeling was still there. She even showed up to her tutoring session with Mage Jenkins once, to his bewildered surprise, which had made her laugh until she had tears rolling down her face. But that wasn't it either._

_Whenever she tried to explain what she was feeling to Lyssa. Lyssa just got a knowing look on her face and smiling would ask about Spen. This alarmed Ali, she wasn't quite sure what Lyssa was getting at but Ali had a feeling that she wouldn't like it. It made her wish that Spen was back, he would listen, if he wasn't trying to read a book at the time. She would just have to wait until he got back, if he could find her, she had a plan to try and see how long she could hide from him._

_Which was less than ten minutes. Spen had come through the portal the night before and Ali was ready to put her plan into action. She made sure to avoid him all morning, (so he couldn't put some type of tag on her), she even had Lyssa perform the invisibility spell on her so he couldn't track Ali's magic. When it came time for their tutoring session, Ali hid in an unused classroom. It took Spen less then minutes to find her._

"_How in Sarthe's name did you find me so fast?" Ali exclaimed when he had walked into the room and removed the invisibility spell off of her._

"_Did you really have to give Jenkins such a hard time?" Spen asked as he folded his arms and leaned against one of the tables._

_Ali shook her head, "Oh no, I asked my question first. How did you find me so fast?"_

"_That is a trade secret that I refuse to give you, so you cannot find a way around it." Spen answered calmly, "Now what about Jenkins?"_

_Folding her arms as well Ali glared at Spen. They glared at each other for several long moments before Ali looked away and sighed, "Jenkins is a fool, I barely had to try to hide and he could never find me. I spent the time looking for a way to finally trick you. Which obviously didn't work." _

_Spen laughed causing Ali to look back up at him, "Jenkins hasn't had years of experience tracking you down. If you remember at the beginning it took me longer to find you." He said._

"_But you always found me, no matter what I did. For a whole week I was sitting in the library with only an invisibility spell on me. He walked right by me every day and didn't see past it. It is not like I am skilled at magic either." Ali protested._

"_You could be." _

"_I could be what?" Ali asked back._

"_You could be skilled at magic if you tried." Spen clarified unfolding his arms and digging his hands in his pockets of his breeches._

"_We have already had this argument, I don't feel like arguing right now." Ali protested._

_Nodding slightly, Spen stated, "I should be glad. Besides tormenting Jenkins, you only did a few small pranks on some other students. You are mellowing as you grow older." He smiled at her._

_Ali stuck her tongue at him and then asked, "You just got back, how do you know what I did while you were gone?"_

"_Jenkins was there to greet me as I came back through the portal, He spent the whole walk over to my rooms complaining about how you only reported to him once." Spen sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "Then this morning all of the other students that I tutor wouldn't get started with the lesson until he had informed me of everything that you did. It was quite annoying because they told me the same thing over and over again."_

"_Why did they bother doing that? It wasn't as if you were involved." Ali asked._

"_Ah, here is the funny part, I think everyone told me because they think that I am your keeper. Am I your keeper, Princess Alihandra?" He asked her with a slight smile on his face._

_Making a face at him she pertly answered, "No, no you are not. I don't know why people think that." Then changing the subject she asked, "How was your trip? Did you learn a lot, Encyclopedia?" _

_Nodding he answered, "I did. I have some new books for you to read. I thought you would enjoy them." He motioned for her to follow him as he turned to the door._

A squeak from the door brought Ali awake. She jerked into a sitting position and looked over at the door to see Miriam walking through it. Gasping in surprise, Ali sprang up and ran over to give her a hug. Ban was standing behind her and received a hug himself.

"I am so glad to see you." Ali softly exclaimed, "When Palani said that he was going to send you word, I didn't think that you would be able to meet us here."

"We weren't too far away, Ban didn't want to move far in case you were able to escape our pursuers." Miriam looked into the room at the bed that held a sleeping Spen. "Palani's note said that Spen had gotten hurt, but looking at him it looks like he was hurt badly."

Ali grimaced, "Sort-of. He was poisoned by a werecat. And we were unable to really treat that poison for almost three days. Palani has kept him in a deep sleep to help facilitate the healing better. He should wake up tomorrow." Ali said as she watched his chest rise up and down to his breathing.

"You have been here for three days?" Ban asked.

Looking at him, Ali smiled, "Yes. I have to admit that the first day we were here, Spen had us all worried, but Palani says that he should make a full recovery."

"Come, my child." Miriam said as she put an arm around Ali's shoulders, "I am told that dinner is almost ready, come tell me what happened to you while we eat."

The next morning Ali found herself sitting in the same chair by Spen's bed, she was holding his uninjured hand in hers. Her fingers were idly tracing invisible lines across his palms as she watched out the window at the hustle and bustle on the street below. Ali wasn't really paying attention at the scene on the street, she was examining her feelings. The last few days had been really hard. That same restless, empty feeling that she remembered from her dream the day before had been prevalent. In the back of her mind she knew what it was; Ali just didn't want to admit it to herself.

If she did admit it, what would she do then? Apparently according to a prophecy she was supposed to marry the next King here. But she didn't want the next king, she wanted….

Shaking her head, Ali refused to go down that line of thinking. Ali knew she was being silly but she didn't want to be like those girls in the fairytale stories that she had read about when she was young. They didn't realize what they had until it was almost taken away from them. But that is exactly what had happened to her.

The door squeaked again and Miriam came into the room carrying two steaming mugs. Ali smiled at her when Miriam handed her one of the mugs and sat down in a chair next to her. "Tell me what you were thinking just now, my child."

Ali took a slow sip out of her steaming hot chocolate allowing herself a chance to think. As she cradled the mug back in her hands, Ali told her, "I was thinking about how we never see what is in front of us until it is gone."

"I have been there. Although most likely not in the same sense as you." Miriam said with a sad smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Ali asked curious.

"My family. I left my family years ago, because I was mad at my brother. It was only later that I realized how much I missed them." Came the answer.

"oh…. And you never went back?" Ali asked.

"It was never the right time." Miriam answered. "Now, what are you going to do about your problem?"

"My problem…?" Ali repeated confused for a moment. Before looking down at the calm sleeping face of Spen. "I need some time to think about it." Was her answer.

"Very good, but don't take too long, or the opportunity may pass you by." Miriam said with a chuckle before standing up and leaving Ali to her thoughts.

* * *

Author's note- There is another chapter tell me what you think. Fell4- Yes, I knew I was setting myself up with the voices comment, I just couldn't resist. Thanks for your review!


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Confused Ali walked through the house, she was trying to find Miriam or Palani, but she couldn't seem to find anyone. She had just come from changing the wrapping on Spen's arm and he had commented that he was feeling some pain, which Ali wanted to run by one of them. If she could find them. After walking through the whole house, Ali found herself outside the door to the workroom that connected the house to the healer's shop. The door had been left open a jar and she could hear voices coming from it. Relieved that she had finally found them, Ali extended a hand to push the door open when she heard Miriam say, "No, we can't tell them anything yet. Let's just let everything unfold naturally."

"If you think that is best, Miriam." Palani said next. "But we are running out of time. The next full moon is in eight days. It only takes six when everyone is riding horseback, but I am afraid that the boy will not be ready to ride horseback for another couple of days."

"How fast is that carriage of yours?" Miriam asked.

Ali heard silence as she assumed Palani thought about the question, "It is much slower than horseback but it could work, especially if we leave tomorrow. We can use the wagon to ride to Bristal and then move to horseback. He should be able to ride by then." There was another pause before he asked, "How do we keep Duke Anton from interfering like he did before?"

There was a sigh and Miriam answered, "I think we will need to send for an escort from the King. He will gladly send one." Another sigh, "I can't quite figure out why Duke Anton is doing this. His parents would have been ashamed about his behavior if they were still alive."

"Did you know his parents?" A unknown voice asked.

"I grew up with them. They were good people." Miriam responded.

Ali knew she shouldn't keep eavesdropping but she was intrigued. It seemed like this group of people were more involved than she knew. Miriam was more involved than Ali had previously thought. Ali was jerked out of her thoughts by footsteps walking towards the door. She quickly backed up to the stairs and quietly padded up them. Not knowing where else to go, Ali went to Spen's room. He looked up at her from his chair by the window.

Striving for calm manner, Ali asked him, "What book are you reading now?"

Raising his eyebrow at her, he asked, "What happened?"

Coming and sitting in a chair next to him, Ali asked, "Why do you think that something happened?"

"You never show much interest in what books I read." He replied drily.

Ali rolled her eyes and pushed him slightly, "I do too, I ask you what you are reading all the time. It is when you tell me the name that I lose interest."

"But something still happened." Spen said studying her intently.

"How can you always tell?" Ali asked curious, looking up at his face.

Smiling Spen answered, "I have been around you for a long time, I can just tell."

"Yes…. Yes, you have been around." Ali looked away for a moment, before looking back and putting her hand on his arm, "And you will be around for an even longer time."

Spen looked down suspiciously at her hand, and back up at her face now looking out the window. Ever since he had awakened in this room yesterday, something had been off with Ali. It was how she was acting around him. It was in the small touches like this one on his arm, the looks she seemed to give him when he wasn't supposed to be looking. It was making his heart race with a hope that he had been squashing ever since he had realized that he loved her, three years ago. The hope that she may love him back. Spen pushed it down once again in a fruitless attempt to regain the safe distance he had been able to maintain for so many years. He looked back down at her hand that was still on his arm, and diverted his mind by asking, "So are you going to tell me what happened?"

With a sheepish look Ali nodded, "I was eavesdropping on a planning meeting that Miriam and Palani were having downstairs."

"Eavesdropping?" Spen asked, hiding a smile.

"I know, I shouldn't have been but they were talking about us, and telling us something. And then about how to finish our journey. I just couldn't barge in." Ali rambled on, telling him about the rest of the conversation. With a small wince Spen moved his injured arm over so he could put his hand over hers.

Ali smiled up at him and asked, "I am getting the notion that Miriam is hiding something from us. What do you think it could be?"

Shaking his head, Spen answered, "I don't know. I get that same feeling too, but I think she is doing it to help us though."

Ali nodded distractedly for a moment. "It seems though that we will be on the move tomorrow. That is a good thing. I want to go home."

Squeezing her hand, Spen said, "I know you do. We will be there soon."

Smiling up at him, Ali then scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. Spen froze for a shocked moment before giving her hand another squeeze and continued reading his book.

He had only read a few pages when they heard the door open. Ali practically jumped up and away. Spen quietly shook his head and looked over to where Miriam was standing.

"Good morning to you both," She said, "I have some news for you; we are going to be leaving for the Capital City tomorrow. We will be taking Palani's healer's carriage with you two in it to the city of Bristal where we should be meet by a some guards sent from the King. Hopefully by then you will be able to ride, Spen. And we will ride from Bristal the rest of the way. Hopefully getting there in time to catch the portal to Tercel. Getting you home." She stopped and looked at both of them, "Do you have any questions?"

Spen seeing that Ali was about to object how Miriam was telling her this, jumped in and said, "No, we have no questions. It will be good to be on the road again."

"Very well, I will bring up lunch when it is ready." Miriam then disappeared out the door.

"Why did you do that?" Ali asked Spen.

"You have to be more specific than that, Princess. What did I do?" He said in his calm way.

"I wanted to ask why we weren't involved in the planning process of this. You know I hate people deciding things for me." Ali said indignantly crossing her arms.

Smiling at her, "I know you don't, but I don't believe we have much choice in the matter at the moment. Let's just go along with everything for now. It will all turn out alright."

Ali just scoffed at him and looked angrily out the window.

* * *

The next day Ali was surprised when she found out that she was going to be riding in the carriage with Spen. It seemed that Miriam and Ban both thought it would be a good idea for her to stay out of sight so no word could be brought back to Duke Anton about her whereabouts. Although there was a little voice in Ali's mind telling her that they were right, this was the smart way, Ali wasn't very happy how it had been decided for her. Angrily she sat down next to Spen in the carriage, arms crossed and pouting.

"They are right, you know." Spen told her, laughter in his eyes.

"I know, I know. That just makes this worse." Ali grumbled to him.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, Spen replied, "Just relax. We have two days in this carriage before we get to Bristal. And then you can ride a horse all the way to the Capital."

Ali just gave him a look and then looked around the carriage. The seats in it looked more like beds than seats that she normally saw in a carriage. When she mentioned this to Spen he told her that was because this was a healer's carriage. It was designed to move patients to either different cities, or different houses around the city. It had powerful non-moving spells on it as well, so occupants wouldn't be jolted around by the bumps of the road.

When she peeked around the blind, Ali noticed that the carriage was moving. But that was the only way she could tell it was on the road. When blinds were closed it felt like they were at a standstill. After an hour or so of riding Ali began to get bored, Spen was happy as long as there were books to read, but she was restless. Smiling up at her Spen motioned for her to stop her pacing and sit down next to him. He handed her a book that was about healing herbs and told her to read it.

Ali leaned back on the seat and tried to read, but she couldn't get comfortable. She tried leaning forward on her knees, sitting up straight, feet up on the seat, sitting tailor's style, feet down on the floor, none of them kept her still for more than a few minutes. Finally she surprised Spen by plopping her head down on his lap and stretched herself out across the seat. Spen looked down at her and asked, "Are you comfortable now?"

Nodding her head, Ali grinned at him and turned her attention back to her book. Spen spent a few moments looking down at her and gave in. He transferred his book to the hand that was on the opposite side as her, and wondered for a moment where to put his other hand. He finally decided to rest it on top of the seat. They spent most of the day reading together, sometimes discussing what they were reading with the other one, sometimes just reading in silence.

* * *

The next day started out in a similar fashion. Around noon Ali's patience with just laying around ran out. She began pacing the small carriage back and forth.

"You should sit down, Ali." Spen said as he laid down his book to look up at her.

Ignoring his request, Ali kept walking back and forth, "Why? This carriage doesn't rock like a normal carriage. It isn't like I am going to get flung around by bumps in the road."

"I know, but you are making me dizzy by walking around in circles like that." Spen answered.

Flopping down on the seat across from him, Ali remarked, "I am bored. It is fine to read a book for a while, but not all day. I need to be doing something."

Chuckling at her, Spen answered, "Just think of the bright side, tonight will be spent in a real bed, and tomorrow you will be on a horse."

"I know. You know a have no patience for this though. I am bored." Ali responded.

Thinking for a moment, he answered, "Let's do something else then. Want to work on some magic for a while. That might keep your mind off of things."

Looking over at him for a moment, Ali nodded to his suggestion.

Magic lessons kept Ali distracted until supper. After they had eaten and were on the road again, Ali began pacing once more. She knew that there was less than a half hour to Bristol and that made her even more anxious.

After several bouts across the carriage Spen stopped her, grabbing her hands and forcing her to stand still in front of her. "Stop, you are really making me dizzy now. We are almost there. Calm down."

Ali opened her mouth to answer him, but before she could the carriage jerked as it hit a large hole in the road, then leaped several times as it went over a washed out section. Ali felt herself losing her balance backwards and leaned forward to compensate for it. Then a large bump sent her flying forwards into Spen. Successfully knocking their foreheads together. Then the carriage became flat and non-moving again.

Holding her forehead with one hand, blinking to clear her watering eyes, Ali found herself, sitting in Spen's lap. His right arm tightly about her waist, holding her close to him. His left hand in the same position against his forehead that hers was.

"What happened?" She asked, "I thought you said this thing had major spells on it."

"It does. It is very strange for it to suddenly lose them, only to regain the spells moments later. I have to say it made my head hurt. Your head is hard." Spen finished with small smile in her direction.

"Hey! I was actually about to say the same thing about your head." Ali protested. She gingerly brought her hand down, glad to see that there was no blood on it. That meant that she would just have a nice goose egg on it for a few days. "Let me see your forehead, Spen." Ali said as she gently pushed his hand away and finger combed his hair back. He had a huge red spot right in the middle but nothing was bleeding, which was good. "You are going to be like me and have a nice goose egg." Ali told him as she let his hair fall back onto his face.

When she started chuckling, Spen asked, "What?"

"You really need a haircut, my friend." Ali said as she played with his hair again, "See when it brushed in front like this, it is below your eyes." Brushing it back out of his face again, she looked into his eyes and smiled.

"Well, I have been pretty busy chasing this girl all across the country. I will try and get it cut soon." Spen joked with her as he tightened his hold on her waist bringing her closer. He raised his free hand and tucked her own hair back behind her ear. Leaning in very slowly he gently kissed her bruised forehead, then the tip of her nose, then very briefly his lips floated across hers. As he started to pull back, Ali wove her hands up onto his neck and pulled him back to her, making contact once again.

If either of them was listening to what was being said outside, they would have heard Miriam telling Palani, "Finally. Took them long enough."

* * *

Author's note- sorry for not updating sooner. As we get closer to the end, I remember how much I hate writing endings to stories. Don't worry there is still another two chapters left, but it still is hard. Thanks for reviewing Fell4 and Ashley

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

In front of the fireplace in the common room of the inn, Ali sat on a couch staring into the flickering flames of the fire. She was thinking about the prophesy again. Miriam had mentioned something to her during dinner about it. From what she understood, King Jeneth didn't have any heirs- so in order for the prophesy to be true she would have to marry one of the random cousins of his to become queen of Cercel. And she was not a fan of that.

The new discovery of how she had fallen in love with her oldest friend and the fact that he loved her to was enough to make her want to shout from the rooftops, but this prophesy thing was heavily weighing in on her.

"You look deep in thought." Spen mentioned as he sat down next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders.

Smiling up at him, Ali commented back, "I am confused about what to do about this prophesy everyone says is for me."

Screwing his face up in thought, Spen thought for a moment, "I am not sure what to do about that. It does seem improbable that it would apply to you. I certainly am no prince. Also Twenty percent of prophesies come to pass in a different way than everyone expects it to. This may be one of those cases."

Ali laughed, "This is one of those times where it is to my advantage that you are an Encyclopedia."

"It is always to your advantage." Spen joked back. Ali leaned into him and smiled at the fire. They sat in companionable silence for a while before Spen broke it asking, "What are you going to do about it though?"

"What?... oh the prophesy…." Ali paused for a moment, "I think I am just going to ignore it. I want to go home, and I want to see where we go from here. I am not going to be worrying about what some stupid prophesy tells me to do."

"That's my princess." Spen whispered to her as he gave her a hug.

Ali leaned into his arms before sitting back and looked around the common room. She could see Miriam and Ban sitting at the bar talking quietly. Five of the guards from the patrol that King Jeneth had sent were sitting there besides them listening. Not being able to see the other guards Ali assumed they were outside keeping watch.

The next three days the group rode at a fast pace, they needed to in order to be at the Castle portal on the night of the full moon. The night before the full moon they stopped at a small inn not too far from the city. They would make the rest of the trip the next day, with some time to spare before the sun set. As they were eating supper, several of the other guests cleared the floor and the sounds of music drifted by. Ali grinned across the table at Spen when she heard the first strands of a country dance starting up. Rolling his eyes at her, he sighed and stood up motioning for her to lead the way.

Laughing at his response, Ali teased, "Don't tell me that after a full day of riding you just wanted to sit down and do nothing."

"Yes, that is exactly what I was planning on doing." Spen stated back.

"We will be home tomorrow, and you can go to sleep in your own bed and relax then." Ali reassured him as she stopped and faced him with a smile.

"So you think that we should then dance the night away? Because we can relax tomorrow?" Spen dryly asked her as he placed his hand on her waist and drew her closer.

"Exactly." She paused as they began to fall in time with the other dancers. The music weaved around them as they danced, "This is the first time that we have actually danced, isn't it?" Ali asked breaking the silence.

"It is actually not." Spen replied back.

Ali looked up at him quizzically, "Really- when have we danced before?"

"It was quite a while ago, I don't blame you for not remembering." Spen said with a half-smile, seeing her inquisitive look, he continued, "It was before I started tutoring you. They had that court dancing class for all of the students at the university and your father thought you needed more practice so he forced you to take the class."

Laughing Ali shook her head. "I really was quite a horrible student when I was younger, wasn't I?"

Spen made a face and looked away, not quite wanting to answer her. Ali laughed at his response and moved closer to him, stunning him momentarily.

Enjoying the companionable silence, Ali rested her head against his shoulder heedless of the stares she was getting for her forward behavior. Seeing this, Spen directed their dancing until it took them off to a secluded corner where Ali heard him murmuring something. Looking up at him with a quizzical look, Ali tried to hear what he was saying. He finished his murmurings and looked down at her with a smile.

"What were you saying just now?" Ali asked curious.

"I just casted an invisibility spell." Spen stated.

"Why did you do that?" She asked now confused.

Spen looked out at the room full of dancers, "Well, I saw that they were all staring at you, and thought that we could use some privacy."

After a short pause, Ali began to grin broadly, "As long as we have some privacy." She said as she put her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a prolonged kiss.

They were just starting to pull away when the music suddenly stopped. Looking around the room, finding what had caused the disturbance was easy. At the door coming in was a group of armed soldiers. As the soldiers began to fan out amongst the crowd, Duke Anton followed them into the room. Ali looked around for Ban and Miriam. When she didn't see them, Ali hoped that they had gone up to their rooms for the night. But she did see the King's guard standing up from their places around the room and followed their Captain to where the Duke was standing.

In a loud voice the Captain asked, "If I may ask, what are you doing here?"

Duke Anton sneered at him and said, "I am looking for somebody. I suggest that you stand aside and let me continue with my search."

Shaking his head the Captain answered, "You are not on your lands, you are in fact quite a distance away from your lands. You do not have the authority to be searching this inn."

"And you think you are going to stop me?" The duke scoffed back.

"We are less than a day from the Capital and therefore the King. I am a member of the King's Guard. It would not be wise to continue with this decision." The Captain reasoned with him.

The Duke looked at him angrily for a very long moment before his expression changed to suspicion. "Why are you here?" he questioned.

Without even blinking an eyelid, the Captain answered calmly, "My Guard and I are returning to the Capitol after escorting Lady Sheena back to her family's lands. The King was concerned for her safety so he sent us to ensure it."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Duke Anton accused him.

"If you don't believe me, you can come with us to the Palace tomorrow and ask the King yourself." The Captain answered.

The Duke glared at the Captain and motioned for his soldiers outside. With a mocking bow he asked, "Is it alright for me to stay and enjoy the hospitality of this inn or do I need permission for that as well?"

The Captain bowed deeply and replied, "You should try today's special, it is really good." He then turned around and sat again on a stool by the bar, the rest of his guard sitting down as well

Ali stood with Spen's arms around her as the Duke sat down at a table and the festivities of the dance slowly start again. About to say something, Ali looked up at him and her words froze in her throat as she saw his face. "What's wrong?" She finally asked.

Without looking at her, he answered, "The man responsible for all of this is sitting right there. It would be easy to attack him, right now."

Startled by his anger, Ali said, "This isn't like you. You don't suddenly attack people when they aren't expecting it."

"But he needs to have some consequence for his actions." Spen protested still glaring at the man in question.

"He will, but it won't be us who give it to him. It will be King Jeneth. Most likely since this was something that could have started a war, the Duke will lose his title and all of his lands." Ali responded flatly.

There was a long silence before Spen sighed, finally looking down at her and said, "You are right. I just would like to do something about him. If he stays the night we won't be able to leave in the morning until he does."

Thinking about what they could do, she watched the Duke, carefully scanning the crowd while he waited for his food. Suddenly she grinned evilly and caught Spen's eye.

"I know that look. What are you planning now?" Spen asked cautiously.

"Do you remember that annoying student from Cambol? The one who that was so arrogant that you couldn't even look at him without getting an earful." Ali asked.

"Of course I do."

"Well, I am thinking about how we convinced him to go home." Ali explained, "This Duke is just as prideful, I bet we can get him to leave the inn, if we embarrass him enough."

Spen sighed, "I am not sure that will work with this one. He is very determined to find you."

"I think that he is just randomly searching places, he doesn't have a clue that I am actually here. This will just help him along." Ali reasoned.

Thinking for a moment, Spen finally answered, "It will at least make me feel better."

"That's the spirit, Encyclopedia." Ali grinned up at him. "Shall we do it the same as we did last time? You upset his dinner somehow, and I will set-up the tripping hazards."

Nodding Spen gave her a serious look, "Be careful, people can still touch you even though you are invisible. Also once we let go of each other, I won't be able to see you anymore."

"I am always careful." Ali said before winking at him and letting go, disappearing from his eyes. Sighing deeply, Spen returned his focus onto the annoying Duke who was yelling for his supper.

Ali carefully weaved through the crowd, trying very hard not to bump into the dancing figures. She flattened herself against the wall by the door and studied the path the Duke would have to take from the table to the door. There was a carpet just by the door to help clean travelers shoes that would make an excellent tripping hazard. Smiling to herself she carefully cast the spell that would cause the carpet to jump and catch his feet.

Once her part was done, she started to glance around the room waiting for the fun to begin. Ali didn't have to wait long before Duke Anton's steaming bowl of soup came out of the kitchen. Just as the maid began to set it down the table began to rock and jump causing to the soup to go flying onto his immaculate clothes. When he tried to jump up and out of the way, his chair somehow became tangled between his legs and he fell crashing to the ground.

The crowded room stood in a stunned silence for a short moment before it was filled with uncontrollable laughter. Cursing up a storm, Duke Anton jumped up and threw the now still chair out of his way. He yelled for the owner. When the owner didn't appear fast enough for him, Duke Anton began to stalk towards the door yelling curses.

Waiting for the perfect moment, Ali activated her spell, causing the Duke to start to tumble once again. As he fought to regain his balance, he fell into the partially opened door, which quickly opened up, dumping him into the ground outside. Even though Ali didn't think it was possible the laughter grew louder in the room. Duke Anton picked himself up and shouting that they would someday rue the day that they had laughed at him, stalked off to where his horse and soldiers were waiting.

Ali watched them for a while as the common room returned back to its activities, before she wove her way back to the spot she had left Spen.

* * *

Author's note- Sorry for the delay. I really have no excuse- hopefully my next chapter won't be so long get out.

Thanks to DaughterofNoOne, Fell4 and Pokemonchen for the reviews! Hope you all liked this chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

With her hand on Spen's elbow, Ali followed the guards into the palace. Miriam and Ban followed behind her and Spen. Ali looked around at the Palace with wonder, she had seen drawings of the wonders of the Palace, but they didn't do it justice. It was marvelous. As they moved from room to room, Ali felt a pang of guilt that she wouldn't have the chance to see more. It was already late afternoon, and the opportunity to finally go home was pulling at her thoughts. They were finally lead into a book-lined study. King Jeneth sat behind a paper covered desk, much like the one her father had back home.

The King looked up and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her. "Princess Alihandra!" He exclaimed as he stood up. "I am so glad that you are here. I was not looking forward to telling your father again that we could not return you home yet." He came forward and gave her a full court bow. He gave Spen a quick bow before turning to greet the rest of the group that followed.

Looking behind Ali, she saw the King freeze with a look of astonishment on his face. "M..i..r..i..a…m." He finally breathed out as Miriam came to stand by Ali.

"Yes, Jeneth. It is me. You shouldn't be so surprised. I told you I would come back when I was ready." Miriam said with a knowing grin.

Ali looked back and forth from the surprised King to Miriam before asking, "Miriam? How do you know King Jeneth?"

Ignoring Ali's question, King Jeneth stated, "I take it that you helped bring Princess Alihandra back to the Palace. How did you find her?"

"She found me." Miriam scoffed, "Walked right into my yard. Then these two," She waved at Spen and Ban, "found us two weeks later."

Asking louder, Ali repeated her question, "Miriam, How do you know King Jeneth?"

This time Miriam looked over at the confused Ali and Spen, "Why Jeneth is my little brother, surely I mentioned that earlier, didn't I?" she finished with a grin.

"What?" Spen yelped. "You defiantly did not say anything about that."

Looking serious, Miriam answered, "I didn't? I am sorry. I thought I had mentioned it. He is my brother, although I haven't seen him in several years."

"Try almost fifteen." The King said dryily.

"Fifteen?" Miriam asked puzzled, "I thought it was shorter than that."

"You are not fooling me, sister. You know exactly how long it has been." The King said with an annoyed smile.

Miriam smiled up at him and patted his shoulder.

Getting the sense that these two needed to talk, Ali politely asked if it was alright to be excused to get cleaned up from their journey. After waiting for a maid to take them to separate chambers, Ali enjoyed a nice hot soak in a bath. While she scrubbed, she wondered why Miriam had not told them that she was the King's sister. Why hadn't she seen her brother in fifteen years? By the time she was cleaned and dressed in a lovely dark green dress that the maid had found somewhere, she was bursting with questions.

Following the maid, Ali found herself back in the book-lined study. Spen was already there, sitting in a chair reading a book. Chuckling to herself she carefully perched herself on the armrest and peered over his shoulder. "Only you could be reading a book, instead of wondering why Miriam didn't tell us that she was a Princess." She muttered in his ear.

Ali could hear the smile in his voice, "I don't like wasting time, there are books here that I haven't read. Miriam will explain to us when she is ready."

"For somebody who loves information, you are not strangely curious about this." Ali teased him.

Spen looked up at her, laughter in his eyes, "How should I act then, My Princess?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Ali looked around the room for a moment before answering, "I don't know. Try and figure out why she did it."

"You seem….. some-what calm about this. Are you not mad at her?" Spen asked

"I can't really be mad at someone who has helped us as much as she has. But I would really like to know her reasons." Ali thoughtfully said.

Spen nodded as he turned back to his book. Ali gasped indigently when she realized what he was doing. "We were talking here!"

"I know I just wanted to try and finish this book before we leave through the portal." Spen answered calmly. "The moon rises in about an hour and I don't think I can finish it that fast. You should find a book that you can read as well."

Scoffing at him, Ali knew that arguing with him was a lost cause, so she started to wander around the room after looking at everything she found interesting Ali came back to Spen. Plopping down on the couch and laid out on it, Ali rested her head in his lap again. Spen just softly smiled down at her before continuing his reading.

Feeling a shaking on her shoulder, Ali realized that she must have fallen asleep. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Spen looking down at her with an expectant look on his face. "It is time to go." He said.

Ali rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stood up. Looking at the door she saw a man standing there waiting for them. Taking Spen's offered elbow, they followed him out of the study, down several hallways and into a room that looked almost identical to the Portal room back at home. The Portal had not opened yet but King Jeneth and Miriam stood off to the side, deep in discussion.

"Miriam!" Ali called, "I have a question for you." Ali keeping hold of Spen's arm dragged him over to where they were standing.

"I am sure you do, my child." Miriam answered patiently, "What are they?"

"Why didn't you tell us you were King Jeneth's sister?" Ali asked.

Smiling slightly Miriam answered, "Because honestly I don't see myself as a princess anymore. I am a healing women." She paused for a long moment before answering, "And I didn't think you would have believed me, anyways."

Cocking her head as she thought about it, Ali paused, "I guess you are right about that." She finally answered, "I don't think I would have believed you. But then why has it been so long since you have seen your brother?"

Miriam sighed and cast a guilty look over at King Jeneth. "We had an argument long ago, and I guess I just convinced myself that it was easier and better to stay away then come back."

King Jeneth laughed self-consciously, "I am partly to blame for that as well, I never tried to find you and talk with you."

Miriam opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the bright flash of the portal opening.

Turning to Ali, King Jeneth began to say, "This is where we…"

He was interrupted by Miriam slapping his shoulder, "This is not the time to say good-bye. You need to come over with us. There is something you will want to see."

He gave Miriam a piercing look before slowly nodding and motioning for her to lead the way.

* * *

Author's note- A short chapter but it is an update. Thanks for the reviews DaughtOfNoOne, Fell4, and Pokemonchen. I love reading your comments. Let me know how you liked this chapter!


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Ali looked at Miriam confused as she watched her step through the portal. What was going to happen? They were going home, this ordeal would be all over then… right? Her thoughts were interrupted by Spen tugging her hand, motioning that it was their turn to walk through the portal. This was only the second time that Ali had moved through a portal, the first time was when she had been dragged into this world. Stepping into the light, Ali closed her eyes against the bright flashes of color, she felt the ground move under her feet, then go solid again. Opening her eyes Ali found herself in a familiar room. She scanned the room and found that her mother and father were already there waiting for them.

Her mother ran to her and gave Ali a huge hug. "How did you know that we would be here?" Ali asked her.

Smiling her mother replied, "We didn't, we were just getting ready to go over and talk to King Jeneth about why he hadn't found you yet." She engulfed Ali in another hug and didn't seem to want to let go until her father came and joined in the hug as well.

"I am glad that you are safe, my daughter." He murmured to her. "You had us worried for quite a while."

Trying not to cry, Ali responded, "I had myself worried a few times as well. Spen was even badly hurt." Ali stopped and looked around for him and found that he was talking to another mage about something. Nodding he followed the mage out the door, Ali couldn't help being a little hurt by this. Did he really just leave her like that?

"He probably is going to reassure his mother, Lady Selena." King Par mentioned after seeing her eyes follow Spen out of the room. "She has been very worried about him, since he followed you to Cercel."

"Lady Selena is here?" Ali asked, "She doesn't often come to court. I think I can count only four times that it has happened before."

Her mother nodded, "She came as soon as she received word that he was gone."

"I should go and meet her." Ali said as she started to go move away from her parents.

"We should all go meet her." Miriam suddenly said. Ali jumped back slightly she hadn't seen Miriam come up behind her. "Everyone should go. We all have a lot of catching up to do." Then making a grand gesture she motioned for the King and Queen to lead the way, then capturing her brother's arm dragged him behind them.

Ali interest piqued followed quickly after them, into one of the sitting rooms that was down the hall. King Jeneth had stopped just inside the doorway, Ali squirmed around him and saw Spen sitting on a couch with his mother. She walked over and gave a small curtsy to Lady Selena and asked how she was doing.

Spen gave a questioning look and then looked around at the others who had come into the room. Recognizing The King and Queen he immediately stood and gave them a court bow, apologizing, "I am sorry, I didn't see you come in."

"That is alright my boy. You were reassuring your mother that you were fine. She has been very worried about you." King Par laughed.

Seeing Miriam behind King Par, Spen motioned her forward and introduced her. "Mother, this is the lady I was talking to you about, Miriam. Miriam this is…."

"I already know your mother, we grew up together." Miriam broke in, before smiling and hugging Lady Selena.

Spen traded confused looks with Ali before cautiously saying, "You never mentioned this before."

Smiling up at him Miriam shot back, "You never mentioned that Selena was your mother."

"But somehow you knew that already, didn't you?" Ali asked her trying to make sense of all that was happening.

"You are sharp, my child. I did already know this. I knew it as soon as I saw him." She pointed at Spen. Knowing their next question she went on, "He looks very similar to his parents when they were his age, that is how I knew."

Ali opened her mouth to ask about she meant by _"his parents"_ but was interrupted by King Jeneth finally entering into the conversation, "Selena? Is that actually you?"

Sighing a little, Lady Selena answered, "Yes, it is me, Jeneth. Don't act so surprised you have known that I have been here for many years."

"I…. I… just didn't realize that you had gotten married and had children and….." He trailed off as he stared at her shocked.

"Just like you, you have also gotten married." Selena stated back, "We move on."

A pained look shot across his face as he looked away from her. Everyone stood for several long moments in uncomfortable silence before Miriam broke it by cheerfully saying, "This is such a fun reunion, I haven't seen you Selena in what fourteen or fifteen years? Spen was just a little guy back then, only six if I remember right."

Smiling softly at Miriam, Selena answered. "Yes, you remember right. It was right after his sixth birthday."

With narrowed-eyes, Spen shot out, "But I don't remember seeing you. If you had been there I would remember meeting you."

Miriam laughed, "You don't remember because I never did actually meet you. I meet with your mother secretly. I only saw you from a window as you were playing outside." Miriam looked back at Selena and said, "It has all unfolded nicely, don't you think?"

"Stop with the riddles!" Ali demanded, "You know something! Tell us!" Ali looked around and saw that her mother and father were quietly watching the proceedings, like they knew this would happen. About to demand that they tell as well, Ali was interrupted again.

"What is your exact age, boy?" King Jeneth demanded.

Spen looked at him with surprise, "I turn twenty-two in three months."

Nodding King Jeneth eyes grew unfocused as he began to mutter numbers under his breath. When he stopped he looked straight up at Lady Selena and stated, "It all adds up, Why didn't you tell me?"

"And exactly how would I have told you? How would it have changed things? I didn't want to make your life any more complicated." Lady Selena stated back.

Ali not sure if she was coming to the right conclusion from all this ambiguous talk, looked up at Spen to see what he thought and saw that he engrossed in the conversation. She turned back to the conversation as King Jeneth was saying, "And after it found out the Paige couldn't bear children, why didn't you say anything then?"

"Because I told her not too." Miriam piped in.

King Jeneth roared, "Why in shades name would you do that?"

Miriam calmly answered, "It was important that the boy stayed here."

"What?" this came from both Spen and King Jeneth.

Miriam looked at both of them with her eyebrows raised, "I _saw_ it like this. This is the way it was meant to be played out. Now instead of arguing over spilt milk, let's talk about what decisions now have to be talked over."

"A moment please." King Par finally spoke. "You have been beating around the bush and I would like to clear up any misunderstandings. Please directly say what you have been discussing here."

"um….." Lady Selena mumbled, looking embarrassed. She looked at Spen for a long moment before saying, "I am sorry, honey. But the Baron is not your real father. King Jeneth is. We grew up together and were in love at one point of time. Just before he married Queen Paige, we wer… were.. together for a short time. But it wasn't to last since he was to be married. In order to make things easier I came over here on the full moon. It was after that… that I realized I was with child. The Baron knows all of this and still loved me enough to look past it." She looked away for a moment before continuing,

"You realized it once. You asked me because you were born so shortly after our wedding, I lied to you then saying that the Baron was your father. When Miriam came to me and told me that we needed to keep this a secret I didn't know whether to be relieved or ashamed. She told me that one day you would be lost in Cercel and at that time I was to go to the castle and wait for you. Everything would be made known at that time. I trusted her and her ability as a seer. I am sorry that I kept this from you." She looked down, her eyes filling with tears.

Not knowing what else to do, Spen wrapped his arms around his mother and hugged her.

Ali watching this not knowing whether to be angry or sad. She was angry at all these people who had gone around hiding things and directing Spen's path for him, not bothering to ask what he wanted. And she was sad because she could feel Lady Selena's pain and sorrow for keeping this from Spen. She was also trying not to think about how Spen was really a Prince and how this made that prophesy that she thought she had left on the other side of the portal, somehow true.

King Par spoke first, "Thank you for saying it, Lady Selena. I can only guess how hard it was for you to tell your story after so many years of keeping it a secret." He turned to Kind Jeneth and said, "I guess you now have an heir. Although I am sure that all your nobles at home will want to confirm that he is truly your son. I am sad to lose such a talented young mage from my court, though."

When she heard her father say that, Ali was furious. Nobody had bothered to ask Spen what he wanted to do. She looked at him and saw that he was quietly talking to his mother, reassuring her that it was okay. Ali would just have to protest for him. "Wait!" she commanded, "Haven't you forgotten one very important thing? Has it even occurred to you to ask Spen if he even wants to be a prince? Don't go making decisions for everybody else." She said as she glared at the two Kings in front of her.

She felt hands on her shoulders and when she looked up, saw Spen was right behind her. His face was pale and she could feel his tension in his hands. "I need some time to think about this." He calmly stated. "It is a lot to have to take in at one time. Can I ask for that much?"

The two Kings looked at each other, before King Jeneth said, "I am afraid you have until dawn. At that time you can choose to come back with me or to stay here. An heir needs to be declared and I cannot wait another month in order to do it."

Spen nodded and bowed to him and then led Ali out the door. Despite her protests he kept going until they slipped into the old room that they always used for the tutoring sessions. He closed the door and leaned against it, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor.

Coming up next to him, Ali looked at his pale face and asked, "How are you doing?"

"How do you think I am doing?" Spen spat out, "I just found out that I have been lied to my whole life and now I am going to have to leave you."

"Why would you have to leave me?" Ali asked back.

"You heard King Jeneth, I am to go back to Cercel before dawn and you will have to stay here." Spen said quietly.

"You are being overly dramatic." Ali said exasperated. "Why would I have to stay here?"

Spen just sighed and commented, "This is where you belong."

"I belong with you." Ali said firmly, "Whether that be here as a mage, or over there as a Prince. I will be with you."

There was a long pause as they both thought over what had just been said. Ali broke the silence, "It seems like you didn't have to think much about becoming the heir to the throne."

"I…. I don't really know how to explain it, but… but it is where I need to go. I just have a strong feeling that it the right choice." Spen tried to explain.

Sighing as she snuggled closer to him, Ali commented, "I guess then that stupid prophesying is going to be right after all. I will be marrying the next king. Who would have thought it to be true?"

Spen wrapped his arms around her and buried his head into her hair. They stayed together like for quite awhile before Spen pulled back and said, "I doubt your father will let you follow me over there tonight. We will be separated for several months before all the marriage papers can be drawn up and all the legal aspects taken care of."

Ali made a face at him and said, "You are probably right. But we should still go and ask him. Then we need to go and pack up some of the things. I doubt we can get it all tonight but we can at least get the essentials." She stood up and held her hand out for him, which he took. When he had stood up he didn't let go of it, instead pulled her against him and kissed her.

When they finally parted he hoarsely said, "Let's go find King Par."

"No. You cannot go." King Par said firmly. "I will talk to King Jeneth and we can start writing up the marriage contracts but Ali you will stay here until it is time for the wedding."

Ali looked over at Spen with disappointment. They had known that her father was going to act this way but she had a little hope that he might surprise them.

"I am glad that you are deciding to become the Crown Prince." King Par continued, "Jeneth was having a hard time choosing a heir. It will help make Cercel stable and when they are stable, we are stable." King Par gave a bow to Spen and then laughed, "Go you two. You won't be seeing each other for a while, I am sure that you have better things to be doing than standing here talking to me." And he waved them out the door.

* * *

Author's note- Sorry again for the long wait, hopefully the next chapter will be out sometime this week.

Please review and tell me what you think of it!


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Spen was in the council room being talked at by two of the members of the Royal Council. He had already told them once that the moon was already up and he needed to get to the portal room to go over to Tercel. But they had not listened and kept talking on and on about how important their position was to council. He was out of patience and was about to snap at them when they fell quiet and looked behind him.

Confused Spen turned around to see Ali there in a simple blue dress, hands on her hips with an annoyed look. "Here I am all the way from Tercel and all you are doing is standing here talking."

"I am sorry about that; I was just telling these gentlemen that I needed to go." Spen said very solemnly, "Princess Alihandra may I introduce you to Duke Tamon, and Duke Samuel." He turned to the two Dukes and said, "Duke Tamon and Duke Samuel, this is Princess Alihandra from Tercel."

They made the proper greetings before Spen offered his elbow to her and said, "I imagine that our fathers are waiting for us somewhere. We will continue this discussion some other time." Spen said to the two Dukes as he led Ali out of the room.

Ali looked up at him curiously before asking, "Have you always been so diplomatic?"

Spen smiled down at her as they walked, "I believe that I have been. Although with you I am not usually that way."

Shaking her head at him, Ali pushed him a bit for his joke, and commented, "I thought that you would be by the portal when I came through, why were you with them?"

"I was trapped by them, they were trying to show me how important they were on the council."

"Why do they feel the need to do that?" Ali broke in.

Chuckling Spen went on, "I believe they are trying to make up for lost time. Unlike your brother who everybody has known that he will be the next king, I have only been here for a month. They feel like they have to hurry and get on my good side."

Ali thought about this for a moment before asking, "How has the last month gone for you?"

Letting out a long sigh, he replied, "Well the first part of it was full of doubts and suspicions as they did all there tests and spells to see if I was really King Jeneth's son. Once it had been confirmed, I have been trying to show them that I am capable of this position. Some are supportive, others are not, while there are still some fence sitters." He paused for a moment before leading her out onto a little veranda that looked over a moonlight garden. "How about you? How has the last month gone?"

Screwing her face up in mock thought, she replied, "If I have to sum it up in one word, I would say boring."

Spen just started to laugh, "I should have known." He said shaking his head.

"What?!" Ali said acting surprised at his reaction, "I was! At first everybody wanted to hear about my journey and then they wanted to hear about you. Then I was left to think about how much I missed you. I even tried to distract myself with some pranks but it is not that much fun without you there to yell at me."

Spen leaned back on the railing of the veranda. Smiling at her he responded, "Here I was thinking how quiet it was over here, not having to worry about who is going to come complain to me about one of your little pranks."

Ali scoffed at him and reached out her hand to playfully push his shoulder, but one of his hands caught it first. With one smooth motion he pulled Ali close to him where he whispered in her ear, "I have missed you, princess."

"I missed you as well, my Encyclopedia." Ali murmured back.

He lightly kissed her neck and slowly moved up in soft touches until their lips touched. They stood like that clinging to each other for a long time before Spen slowly moved back, "We should go find our fathers and see what they are doing." He said reluctantly.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" Ali asked with a gleam in her eye. "My father came here to work out the marriage contract. He told me to worry about getting settled in, while he took care of that."

"Settled in?" Spen looked at her sharply, "Settled in …. As in moving here?"

"Yep," Ali said triumphantly.

"How did you convince your father of that?" Spen asked, "I recall him saying that he wasn't going to let you do that until we had the wedding."

"Well he seemed to think that me coming over here would show an act of good faith. Some of the Nobles are still outraged over the kidnapping scheme. He thought that it would show that he was serious about keeping our relations good. Also he mentioned something about me needing your guidance or something." Ali finished with a shrug.

"Was it one of the pranks that you pulled that made him think that?" Spen asked trying to hold in a smile.

"Maybe…." Ali said dismissively. She looked away at the moonlit garden for a moment before turning back, "Anyway, my things are being carted through the portal right now. Also your mother packed up the rest of your things and they are being sent over as well. We should go see how the progress is going."

"Yes, we should." He offered his elbow to her and they started walking back down the hallway. After several moments of silence, Spen asked, "Is there any other surprises for me that I should know about?"

Ali shook her head, "I can't think of any at the moment." She paused for a moment before asking him, "Isn't the portal this way?" As she pointed to a hallway to her left.

"No, that leads to the council room." Spen answered, "The portal is this way. I am surprised that you don't remember your way back."

"I was led by a servant when I was looking for you. And in my defense I haven't been in this castle for very long. Give me a week." She scoffed back at him.

"A week for what?"

"A week to learn the layout of the castle." Ali replied.

"And if you don't?" Spen asked a smile creeping up on his face.

"Are you turning this into a bet?" Ali asked.

"Why not? It has been quite a while since we have had a good bet." Spen shrugged.

"That it has…." Ali thought about it for a moment before asking, "What do we get if we win?"

Spen didn't even pause before saying, "An afternoon of whatever the winner wants to do."

"I will accept your challenge then, but be prepared to spend an afternoon my way." Ali exclaimed.

Spen just shook his head and commented on how confusing this castle was.

Ali scoffed at him for not having any confidence in her and finished walking into the portal room to help with the moving of boxes and bags.

* * *

Ali yawned as she looked around her new room. Because she had come so suddenly, there was no way for them to have a room prepared for her. Ali had just talked briefly with the head women, Carissa, in order to determine where her rooms were. She had also told Carissa that she didn't want to wake up any of the servants to help unpack last night so everything was still in boxes or in piles around the room.

Although Ali had been awake all night she still couldn't go to sleep quite yet, she needed to find Carissa and figure out what was going to happen next. Making her way down to the kitchen she asked everybody she came across if they knew where Carissa was. Finally she was told that Carissa was looking for her and had gone to her room. Retracing her steps from the kitchen to her rooms, Ali found Carissa in them with four other women busily working.

"There you are, Princess." Carissa said, "We didn't know where you had wandered off to, so we decided to start."

Laughing Ali responded, "I was actually looking for you. I was going to try to find out your plans."

"We thought that we could at least get your clothes unpacked and maybe some of the other boxes." Carissa explained, "Although I know you didn't get any sleep last night. So we will try to do this fast."

Thanking them for their help, Ali then helped them unpack the boxes. And just as Carissa said they were done within an hour. Carissa said that she would come wake up Ali just after lunch, and they would discuss some more business and then left her to try and get some sleep.

Looking around the room at the still packed boxes, Ali sighed and fell into the bed. She would first get some sleep and then deal with the boxes.

"Princess Alihandra." Came a quiet voice, "Princess, it is time to wake up."

Ali groaned and opened her eyes very slowly. Carissa was standing there, looking expectantly at her.

"It feels like I just laid down." Ali complained, "It is really time to get up?"

"Yes, my child. It is just after lunch." Was the reply, "I have lunch waiting for you. We have much to discuss."

Ali pushed herself out of bed and brushed the wrinkles out her dress. Then quickly finger combing through her hair, she plaited it into a braid and sat down at the table where a covered tray was.

Lifting up the cover, Ali smiled at the potato soup and bread. She looked up at Carissa and asked, "Will you be joining me for lunch?"

"I have already eaten. But while you eat I do want to talk with you about something."

Ali motioned for Carissa to sit across from her and asked, "What is it?"

Carissa didn't sit down but shifted nervously from foot to foot, "I have a favor to ask." She finally said, "I have a niece who lives here with me, and she has been a maid for several of the Noble Ladies that reside here. But it seems that she has angered them in some way and now none of them want her. If she can't find work here, I don't know what she will do."

"So you want me to take her on as one of my maids?" Ali asked.

"You don't have any maids yet, and you can take her on for a trail biases if you want. If you want someone else after two weeks, I will understand." Carissa hurriedly said.

"How did she anger the Noble Ladies?" Ali asked while buttering her bread.

Sighing Carissa answered, "Kali kept getting nosy about their lives. She doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut."

Holding back a chuckle, Ali strived for a straight face, "I can see how that would make my peers angry. So why do you think that she and I would get along better?"

"I don't. But I have heard that you are not like our Noble Ladies here and so I hope that it might work."

Ali looked up at Carissa's hopeful face and remarked, "You may put her in as my head maid. I realize also that it is customary for me to have more than one, but I would like to have the least number possible. Pick out one more for that purpose."

Carissa's face shone as she nodded, "I will see to it at once." And she turned to leave the room.

"Wait a moment, Carissa." Ali said, "Do you know where Spen is?"

"The Prince is currently in a meeting with his father." Carissa said with a bow, "In his study."

"Thank you." Ali gave her a nod and went back to finishing her meal.

* * *

Several days later, while they were in the study, "Who are you expecting?" King Jeneth said with a slight grin, looking at his new-found son.

"What?" Spen looked over at the King startled.

"You keep looking over at the door. Are you expecting someone?" He asked again.

"Ali said she would come to this." Spen answered.

"Why would the Princess want to come to one of your lessons about how to rule the kingdom?" King Jeneth asked surprised.

"She likes to know what is going on, and be a part of things." Spen said a little confused about the Kings reaction.

With a perplexed look on his face, King Jeneth asked, "Doesn't she want to spend the day with the Queen and her ladies?"

Spen started laughing, "Good luck getting her to do that!" His face grew serious and then he continued, "You also have to realize that Ali's mother always helped her father with running the kingdom. It is how she grew up. I doubt you are going to be able to keep her away."

As if on cue Ali finally walked through the door, "I am sorry I am late, I made a wrong turn at one of the corridors and ended up in the kitchen. I did bring up some scones though."

Spen shook his head at her and asked, "You only have until the end of the week, do you really think that you can learn the whole castles layout by then?"

Without even pausing Ali responded, "Yes. Don't get your hopes up, Encyclopedia."

King Jeneth with a studious look on his face, interrupted their arguing by telling them to sit down.

Later in the day, when her maid Kali came into her room to clean, Ali swept her out into the hall and said, "I need your help. Just pretend that you cleaned my room and instead show me around."

"Are you sure?" Kali asked timidly.

"I am positive." Ali replied, "I will talk Carissa if you think you might get in trouble."

"Why do you need my help?" the girl asked curious.

"I made a bet with Spen." Ali explained. "He thinks that I can't learn my way around the castle by the end of the week. I am going to prove him wrong." After a long pause as they walked down the hallway, Ali said, "I haven't had much of a chance to talk with you. You are Carissa's niece right?

Kali nodded.

"I hear that you can be a little nosy." Ali said with a smile, "But I haven't seen that part of you yet."

Looking nervous Kali shook her head.

"Well, don't worry about it so much." Laughing Ali said, "Unless you're really annoying I won't dismiss you. Now then Kali. I can find my way to the kitchens, and also to the portal room. But I have a hard time with everywhere else in this place." Ali stopped at in the middle of a junction and pointed to the hallway on her right, "That leads to the west wing, correct?" Waiting for Kali's nod, Ali then pointed to the left, "Then this way leads to the east wing. What is in the East wing?" she asked.

Kali looked down the corridor and said, "Many of the guest chambers, also some of the councilmen have rooms down that way."

Ali nodded and hooked elbows with the girl and led her off down the west wing.

At the end of the appointed time, Ali found herself at the same intersection of hallways, this time with her hand on Spen's arm.

"What is in this direction?" Spen asked as he pointed down the East wing.

"Guest chambers and some councilmen rooms." Ali confidently answered.

Spen led her around asking her questions about where was this? Take me to this place and so on. After an hour he finally admitted defeat.

"You learned your way around here haven't you."

"Yes, I did." Ali proudly exclaimed, "Which means I won the bet! What should we do for a whole afternoon?" she asked.

"If I had to guess you already have it all planned out." Spen said glumly.

Ali laughed at him and tugged him towards the throne room. "Let's go ask the King, which afternoon he can spare us."

* * *

Leaning back into the chair, Ali was surprised that she had been here for almost a month. In two days was the next full moon and her parents were coming over for a big engagement party and dance. She reflected on how easily she had picked up a routine here. There was morning sword practice with the palace guard, morning tea spent with the Queen and/or the Noble Ladies (not her favorite time of the day) Lessons with the King and Spen in the afternoons. Nighttime activities varied. She looked up at Kali as she walked in the door carrying a tray of tea.

After putting the tray on the table, Kali crossed her arms and stared at Ali. "What?" Ali asked surprised.

"Why haven't you prepared a ballgown for the engagement party?" Kali asked bluntly.

"I hate those gowns." Ali complained, "Why do I need one anyways? I can just wear that frilly blue gown I have."

Looking up at the ceiling for patience, Kali responded, "Do you know what the rumors are saying?" She paused, looking over at Ali's startled face, "No, of course you don't. You don't listen to them. Well I am going to tell you what they are saying." She paused for dramatic effect, "They say that our Prince is marrying a crude ugly human from Tercel." Kali starts to pace around the room as she talks, "That is the tame one. The others are not so nice to you or to the Prince. It is bad enough that you go to the practices in the mornings but you don't care about the current fashions. Everybody is talking about it!" Kali stopped when she saw Ali grinning at her. "This is nothing to be grinning at!" she proclaimed.

"I am just grinning at you. I am finally seeing the pushy Kali that everybody has been warning me about." Ali responded.

"You're not listening to what I am saying!" Kali protested. "People are going to be coming to this engagement party expecting to see a dirty, crude human. And you are going to go that way!"

"The dress I am planning on wearing is not dirty so I don't know what everyone is complaining about." Ali remarked. When she heard this Kali threw her hands up in the air and stormed out of the room. Leaving Ali shaking her head in wonder.

The next morning Ali was out in the practice grounds stretching her muscles as she watched some of the guards practicing with each other. Spen came up to her and smiled. "Would you mind a wager this early in the morning?"

Looking over at him curious, Ali asked, "Depends on what you have in mind."

"I would like to challenge you to a mage battle." Spen responded in a light tone.

"What are the stakes?" Ali asked.

"The winner gets to dictate how the loser dresses at the Engagement party tomorrow." He answered in the same light tone.

Suspicious Ali asked, "Why are you challenging me? I seem to remember that I have won the last mage battles we have done together."

Shrugging his shoulders he replied, "We haven't fought in a mage battle since before you were kidnapped. I just thought it would be fun."

Ali thought for a long moment, Spen was up to something but she had a good record of beating him, so she accepted his challenge and went back to the armory to get the magicked sword that was used in these matches. When she came back he was already in the ring waiting and a crowd of palace soldiers had emerged.

Taking a deep breath Ali stepped into the ring and gave the customary bow to Spen. The soldiers cheered as the match started. The match started out well for Ali. She knew Spen and his habits. Knocking aside spells and reflecting them back as they came one after another. She braced herself to reflect an approaching spell, when she suddenly found herself staring up at the blue of the sky. Sword was laying on the ground several feet away from her. Surprised at the sudden turn of events, Ali just laid there while the crowd was going wild with their cheers for Spen. Sitting up, Ali was still shocked. She looked up at Spen who was coming to give her a hand up.

As she took it she asked, "How did you do that? I didn't even see it coming."

Smiling Spen told her, "I am just trying to keep you humble."

Shaking her head, she dusted herself off and went over to get her sword. She picked it up and stopped mid-motion, "You knew you were going to win with that spell."

He shrugged and smiled evilly at her, "You need to report to the seamstress just after lunch for a fitting of your dress for the party tomorrow."

Ali just nodded, defeated. She knew that he won and that she didn't go back on her wagers.

Her afternoon was spent fitting a dress that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Kali was grinning from ear to ear as she helped the seamstress and Ali kept thinking about how Spen had won the match. She was going to have to figure it out if she was ever to spar against him again.

The next afternoon was spent getting ready. Her hair had to be pulled this way and that. Her face scrubbed till it hurt, and then the layers of the gown went on. Just before dusk she was declared ready to go. Spen came and picked her up, but instead of leading her down to the ballroom where she was to meet her parents, he lead her out to the same little veranda that they had been on her first night here.

Smiling down at her, he commented on how beautiful she looked. Ali made a face at him and asked if he had heard the rumors.

"I may have heard one or two of them," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "But after seeing you tonight. I don't think that any of them with be believed anymore."

"You did this on purpose!" Ali exclaimed.

"Maybe, maybe not. I could contest it either way." Was his reply.

"Humph." Ali was annoyed at him, and asked, "Why did we come here aways? My parents are probably waiting."

Spen looked a little nervous as he searched for words, "I realized that I forgot to ask you something very very important."

Confused at his behavior and what he had just said, Ali just cocked her head at him.

Clearing his throat and fumbling in his pocket for a moment, He finally looked into her eyes and said, "I forgot to ask you this." He pulled out a little box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful diamond ring. "Will you marry me, Ali?"

Ali stared at him as she realized that those words had actually never been spoken. She smiled at him and answered, "That is a definite affirmative, Encyclopedia."

Grinning foolishly Spen slide the ring onto her hand and pulled her in for a kiss. Reluctantly after a moment Ali pulled away. "Sorry, but after all that work they did on my hair and makeup I don't want it to get messed up."

Spen sighed as he held out his arm for her, "Yes, you need to go stun all your non-believers. There will be time afterwards."

"In fact our whole lives." Ali answered.

"Yes, and that is a thing to look forward too."

The End

* * *

Author's note- I am so sorry that it took so long to get this last chapter up. But I wanted to finish the story and my excuses could go on and on. I hoped you enjoyed this last chapter!


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